Articles
Battle for MY Mind – 2 Cor. 10
Battle for MY Mind – 2 Cor. 10
In 2 Corinthians 10 Paul again uses the analogy of war to write about the struggle that Christians face. It is a Spiritual war for it is a spiritual kingdom. Such spiritual war is about ideology and choice. Disciples of Jesus are disciples willingly. No one can be conscripted into being a Christian.
The basis of our ideology is found in the writings of the NT. When Paul states that the weapons of such warfare are not 'carnal' (of the flesh, of the world, worldly), I understand that to not only exclude the works of the flesh (cp. Gal. 5:19-21), but the tactics that are used by worldly people. These would include lies, misrepresentations, intimidation, threats, deceit, and the such like. The weapons of God's people would include peace, truth, righteousness, faith, love, light, the sword of the Spirit, and salvation (Rom. 13:12; 2 Cor. 6:7; Eph. 6:11, 13–17; 1 Thess. 5:8).
The battle is not just me against 'others', the real battle is in my own mind. The destroying of arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God is personally about my thinking processes. How I act is controlled by how I think. Thinking is influenced by what I feed my mind. The danger today is the very fact that we live in an age of information. There is a veritable onslaught of facts and ideas that are presented before us every day. Lost in this onslaught is the godly teaching of God.
Godly character is defined not by self-help books and modern relationship experts, but by the Word of God. The fruit of the Spirit is still love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (cp Gal. 5:22-23). I need to be watchful, insightful, and on guard about my 'ideas'. I am to "take every thought captive to obey Christ". That which leads me away from Him is to be rejected. If I haven't filled my mind with the teaching of Christ, how will I discern those ideas that are misleading? If I haven't grounded myself in the righteousness of God, how will I examine the flood of ideas that are presented every day?
Paul instructs us to "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God (Col. 3:16). What influences your thinking? It is the greatest battle of all, the battle for your thoughts.
Hugh DeLong
