Taking Every Thought Captive is Not a Suggestion

“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.“ 2 Corinthians 10:3-6

Our world is a mess. People think words are literal violence, and so they justify actual violence. A war of ideologies is taking place before our eyes, and many are asking “How did it come to this?” This morning, I’ve been reflecting on the Scripture that says “We take every thought captive.” The world is in the state it is because emotions, feelings and thoughts have become more important than truth. We are lied to, manipulated, and sold on things because we don’t stop and think about what we’re being shown or how we’re being led. But what is most damning is that we’re not testing the will of God against the Word of God. We would rather something feel right than be right, and why? Because that’s how we’ve always been.

It’s been this way since our first ancestors walked the earth. Adam and Eve were thinking about the fruit they were commanded not to eat (and by the way, it’s never been about the fruit, it’s been about obedience). Heck, they were even hanging around the tree that contained the fruit they weren’t supposed to eat! Is it a wonder they so quickly fell when asked “Did God really say?” Eve repeated what God had said (with an addition of her own), but she didn’t end the conversation; she listened to a voice that was not God’s, one that fed in to her desires, and she disobeyed the voice of God. She shared with her husband, who said nothing, and Adam also ate. Then their eyes were opened, and what was promised, wisdom like God’s, only led to the discovery of shame at their nakedness. That was the beginning, and we’re fixing to discover far more than shame.

Loved ones, God created us perfect, in the beginning. His standard is perfection. When we deviate from His design, His word, and obeying Him, we tarnish and destroy that perfection. That is why the Bible says we are dead in our sin and trespasses! When we wander in to desire instead of obedience, we’re going against what we were designed for, and that was relationship with God! And since Sin cannot be in the presence of God without being destroyed, we’re doomed! This is why Jesus came to live as one of us, living perfectly according to the design, and had to die: the Perfect, Holy Uncreated One paid the debt we incurred by going against His design by offering Himself in our place. And because He died, we can die to sin. Because He rose again, He conquered death, which means, for the believer, death is a temporary condition!

So, believer, what do we do? We test every thought, every action, every word we speak. We don’t let our feelings get in the way of truth. We test everything against Scripture, and if we don’t measure up, we need to surrender, and let Jesus return us to the Design! And, by His blood, His word, and the Holy Spirit, He does!

Colossians 2

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.