Thoughts

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Second Corinthians 10:4-5 says, “(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;” 

My life has been far from perfect.  In fact, it is not even close and I have had my share of reprimands in my life like getting the Ford tractor stuck between two trees in the woods because I was too lazy to get off of it and get the cows into the lane to the barn.  I had to get the farmer, Bert, to come help rock it back and forth until it was unjammed from the trees.  There was also the time when I was told to cut down the corn in the soybean field.  We always rotated the crops and it was bean time.  Well, I found two rows of corn about twenty feet long and proceed to cut them down like the rest only to find out later that it was the farmer’s wife’s sweet corn patch at the end of the bean field.  Once you cut it with a machete, you can’t make it stand up again.  Reprimands are never nice nor comfortable, but often necessary if one is to grow in the Lord.  After receiving them, however, my mind begins to come up with all kinds of arguments as to why or how I was right and they were wrong.  That is when I need the above passage.

Adam Clarke has a great deal to say of this passage, and it is more than I can put into this short devotional.  Clarke refers to the Greeks and their idolatry and the arguments that they had for them.  For me, the passage hits me simply with the words, “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”   For me, this is the “game changer” as people would say today.  My mind can run wild and apparently in my later years is running out of control and so now I have to “happy pill” to compensate for my devious plans.  When I get overstimulated in my mind about how thins are going wherever I am at, I am reminded of Philippians 2 where the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, humbled Himself and became flesh through the virgin birth and then lived a perfect  life as if to show us how it should be and then died on the cross for me.  Reprisal or vengeance is not ours, but the Lord’s.  Our thoughts should be honoring the Lord at all times and not just when things are going our way.  My life and  yours are short and much is to be done and to waste your mind on such things other than the preaching of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is just a waste of valuable time.   Praise the Lord today for His being the object of all of our thoughts and long to see Him face to Face.