Taking Every Thought Captive to the Glory of God

“We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.”

― 2 CORINTHIANS 10:5 (NRSV)

Our thinking is both a well-deserved friend and to be a revered foe. By thought we can go into the vast expanses of wisdom – dredging out the rich ore by discernment – or we can make fools of ourselves.

When the ideas in our minds reach full maturation we stand before a voluminous chasm: where will these ideas take us? Will they be used for the glory of God in the revelation of truth, or will they do the devil’s bidding? And, due free will, God gives us utter control over everything we say. God loves us this much: he trusts us with the words of our mouths, when we could do such damage to his purposes.

Of course, God knows who is in control. Those who run for his purposes are used for his purposes; those who run against his purposes are, also, used for his purposes. But only one (the former) will be blessed.

Let us make no mistake: we do God’s bidding in fear and trembling, or we do the devil’s bidding, nonchalantly and in great folly. What we do and what we say have eternal consequences, even as they commence by the despatching of those words from our mouths.

Remembering That God Gives Us Control

We can never say, in truth, that we don’t control what we say. We do. Our command (or lack thereof) of virtue is our guide.

Our only defence in the glorifying of our Lord in our bodies is the defence of truth, applied graciously, such that we may be known as truth tellers, full of the Spirit, and full of integrity.

When we have no need to defend ourselves, and equally there is no need to attack others, then we may know what it is to take every thought captive and make it obey Christ.

We will fail, of course. We will put our feet in our mouths. We will find reasons to promote lies by our speech. We are human and we are broken, sinners by definition. We take that thought captive and make it obey Christ as well. We will hence not be made a scapegoat by the enemy of souls. It is good to accept our limits.

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One crucial way we obey Christ is by taking every thought captive and conforming our thoughts to the truth. There is great power in our words. Good words are a blessing, whereas bad words wreak havoc. Our words glorify the Lord when we have, beforehand, taken every thought captive.

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.