Monday, August 10, 2020
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5
Unhealthy and Unholy Thoughts
There is so much information available these days. Everyone seems
to post whatever they want to on social media for everyone to read. What we
allow into our minds can put many thoughts into our heads or cause us anxiety
and fear. Many thoughts enter our minds from the influence of news, social
media, family or friends. No matter what source we may get information from, it
all needs to be filtered through one final filter – the word of God.
It only takes one little thought to get into our heads and take over, and if we aren’t paying attention, Satan gets a foothold and that one tiny thought can lead to disaster for us. Maybe they aren’t awful so maybe you don’t think much about them and shove them aside. But over time, wrong thoughts can take root and become our only thought. Satan is tricky. He sneaks thoughts in like that and they grow, or fester and lead to sin – outright physical sin or bitterness, hatred or fear. We must be vigilant about examining our thoughts closely to make sure they glorify God. If we do not take every thought captive, he sneaks in some of those “not so bad” thoughts. But those not so bad thoughts begin to swirl in a downward spiral to destructive thoughts that lead us away from Christ, hold us captive and take away our freedom. Even if we let just one thought stay, that one thought can destroy relationships, families, friendships, careers, our whole lives.
We know the truth, but still we
must choose it and measure every single thought against it.
It is not enough to just know it.
Jesus’ commands are simple – and they are universal – and they are multi-purpose. God’s word has an answer for every single thing. And every single thing in our lives should be filtered through His word. If is it not congruent with the Word of God, then is cannot be right for the life of a believer. It is that simple. When we let other sources influence us, we create a conflict with what we know in our hearts and minds to be true and with the world offers as false truth. Freedom comes when we refuse to let Satan control our minds with unhealthy and unholy thoughts.
But
the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and
a sincere faith. For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to
fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do
not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make
confident assertions.
1 Timothy 1:5-7
