Bringing Thoughts Into Captivity Part 7

XII. Remember that bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ does not imply that you will never have an errant, stupid, weird, carnal, immature, questionable, ugly, uninformed thought or a doubt about how to properly receive something God has written (while NOT doubting that it is indeed God’s word, LUK 12:29). A. Rather, these weaknesses are part of our Adamic nature which we must contend with and hold in check, lest they get an advantage over us. c/w 2CO 2:10-11. B. As long as unspiritual thought is held captive, it does not represent our defeat. It is when we do not govern our captive wisely that it becomes our master and we become the captive. C. This is spiritually our “dominion mandate” while under the bondage of corruption, while still battling with the old man of sin. c/w GEN 9:1-2. 1. As the post-diluvian dominion order over nature was to man in his sin-disordered environment filled with challenges, so our spiritual order in Christ is to “...work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure (PHIL 2:12-13).” 2. With His help, we can work through and around the unspiritual thoughts of this life which is still polluted with the vestiges of sin and maintain our dominion over them. 3. Remember that our thoughts are not solely the product of the brain: the heart is involved. There is an emotional, moral, spiritual dimension to our thinking. PRO 23:7; ISA 10:7; MAT 9:4; HEB 4:12. a. Our connection to our God is not a mere digital, binary code. Our obedience rightly springs from the heart (ROM 6:17), something that no computer can duplicate. b. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled” (MAT 5:6). Hunger and thirst are compulsions that are not generated by rational thought but which do initiate thinking as to how they might be satisfied (and the gospel tells us how Christ’s righteousness satisfies God and our souls, ROM 5:19; 2CO 5:21). c. Conversion and discipleship is largely a matter of submitting all of our person, from the heart outward, to King Jesus as Lord and Christ. ACT 2:36-42 ct/w LUK 19:14. d. “We are as our hearts are, and our hearts are good or bad according as they are, or are not, towards God.” (Matthew Henry) e. (PSA 86:11) Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name. D. With King Jesus on the throne of our hearts, His law written in our hearts (HEB 8:10), and instruction from Scripture as to how to improve our hearts (JAM 4:5-8), though our natural or unspiritual thoughts will be a challenge to us, they don’t have to seize the throne from King Christ abiding in us (JOH 15:4-6). 1. Ignorance or feebleness of understanding of proper conformity to Christ need not be our continual barrier to victorious living. PHIL 3:12-15. 2. We can freely utilize the wisdom and fashion of this world to our personal benefit and pleasure as long as these things do not dethrone Christ in us. MAT 10:16; LUK 16:8-9; 1CO 7:31; 1TI 6:17-18. 3. We don’t have to be utterly removed from this world in order to survive and please God. JOH 17:15; 1CO 5:9-10.

XIII. Consider: A. There must be a baseline, a standard to determine the validity or impropriety of our thoughts. That standard is Scripture and the more Biblically-informed and Biblically- submitted we are, the better will be our thoughts (and consequently our attitudes, decisions and actions). PSA 119:113, 128. 1. Scripture can guide our hearts (PRO 23:19) to deliver us from the misleading passions and natural imaginations of the heart. PRO 16:32; 25:28. 2. Thus, the heart’s thoughts, intents and longings can be positively affected to desire what is good and pleasing to God, and this will call for His examination and correction to purify our thinking. PSA 139:23-24. 3. The goal is to think more like God than like Satan or Satan’s nature still within us. ISA 55:6-9. 4. This is why we should reason (think in a connected, sensible or logical manner) from the scriptures (ACT 17:2-3) which are faultless and superior to the wisdom of men or of the creation under the bondage of corruption. 5. We are on a positive path when we stand ever ready to have our thinking corrected by sound reasoning from the Scripture. ACT 17:10-12. 6. A truly good thinker will conclude that Jesus Christ Whom the scriptures declare is the Lord and highest expression of God. PHIL 2:5-11. B. We should fear God and accordingly pray for wisdom (the capacity of judging rightly in matters relating to life and conduct). PRO 9:10; JAM 1:5-6. 1. Again, this ultimately leads one to Jesus Christ, “In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (COL 2:3). 2. In learning of Him, we learn of the true God and His unique, full salvation of His people from their sins by Jesus Christ alone, not by sinners’ power. MAT 1:21; HEB 1:3; 9:12. 3. With our thinking straightened out concerning eternal salvation, the vain thoughts of sinners’ justification by their power can be held captive, freeing us to better serve God in liberty. 2CO 3:14-17 c/w GAL 5:1. 4. Jesus Christ by His perfect example of living also provides us with the best model of man. EPH 4:13. C. What about those ugly or even wicked thoughts that sometimes float through our minds? 1. Recognize that these are common to all men, even the best of sinners. 1CO 10:13; ROM 7:21-23. 2. Pray, calling on the name of the Lord for deliverance (ROM 10:13; MAT 6:13), and act in accordance with the prayer. Don’t put your foot into the snare you pray to be delivered from, and take evasive action where known evil resides. PRO 22:3. 3. Avoid feeding predatory beasts since feeding them strengthens them. ROM 13:14; 1CO 15:33. 4. Don’t let a lust conceive; flee lusts at their onset. JAM 1:14-15 c/w 2TI 2:22. D. Don’t fill your mind with negatives (hopelessness, futility, uncertainties, hatred of fellows, inappropriate fears, etc.) and focus rather on all the good that God represents and the blessings that are still available under the bondage of corruption. PHIL 4:4-8 c/w ROM 12:21.