We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity. (10:5-6)The Message version of these verses provides a greater understanding of what it means to "capture every thought" - a phrase often thrown around by Christians, like me, who struggle with sinful thoughts (fear, anxiety, critical spirit, judging, jealousy,...). I have memorized and recited these verses in other versions numerous times throughout my life, but I'm now sensing a deeper, broader meaning of what the Holy Spirit was writing through Paul.
Starting at the end of the passage, Paul's making something new clear - a life of obedience is not the goal. A life of maturity is - and a life of maturity is defined as, "the structure of life shaped by Christ." The life shaped by Christ is described and exampled for us throughout the gospels - primarily, a life of loving God with all my "passion and prayer and intelligence" and "loving others as well as [I] love [my]self" (Matt. 22:37-38, Msg).
Now, fitting every loose thought, emotion and impulse into that structure of Christ's love is clearer to me than taking every thought captive. My rabbit trails of thought, that reach back into hurtful episodes of my past and begin retracing conversations and arguments, are loose thoughts that I must examine against Christ's life of love. A disappointment I experience that triggers deep feelings of loss or betrayal, I must fit alongside the sacrificial love and forgiveness of Christ. The powerful impulse to comfort myself with anything other than the One who died that the Comforter might be present in my life (John 16:7), must seek only that true source of comfort. These are the moments where obedience can be built into a life mature in Christ.
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