The Final Frontier
I would think that when we hear the words of the title today our minds either go back to the western push in American expansionism or to our more modern Star trek imaginations. Both had captured the frontier elements in the idea of conquering new ground never before thought possible.
Perhaps for each of us today as believers we also have a frontier that is beckoning us to capture it and control it, but it isn't an actual area of geography or space as we know it. Rather it is the wild and sometimes uncontrolable expanse of our own minds; namely our thought lives. For every believer who thinks they have achieved control of their outer lives and behavior, let them turn to the inner spaces of their thought lives and apply the same discipline.
I remember as a young Christian how foreign this idea seemed to me. I had grown up thinking that some things are mine and mine alone, that nobody had any right to tell me what to do in the most private areas of my life. So I didn’t allow anyone to control those areas, and I didn’t control them myself! In fact, in the beginning of my Christian walk, I didn't even think God had the right to control my innermost thoughts, at least not in any practical sense. I may have acknowledged that I had read it in the Bible, but it hadn't really reached my conscious behavior pattern.
But the day soon arrived when I understood that thoughts became actions, and actions became habits, and habits were producing character. That is when I began to think and act differently, very differently! If that is something of your experience, let me both gently encourage you forward but also challenge you to give Jesus control of the final frontier of your thought life as well.
Paul the apostle gave this command to the Corinthian believers in 2 Corinthians 10:5 when he said,
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ........
There are three clear and simple elements Paul touches on here that we must recognize if we are to win control of our thought lives. First, if we are going to control the final frontier of our minds we have to take every thought. It is not enough to limit ungodly or unrighteous thinking to just a few areas or categories. Every single thought has to be taken under our jurisdiction. There is no excuse to be used here to justify any exception. Satan only needs one unsecured place, and he will use one single area of weakness or disobedience to build a base of operations in your life to ultimately destroy your life. It may take some time, but our spiritual enemy has all the time in the world!
The great English preacher Charles Spurgeon used to say, "You can't stop the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from biuldng a nest in your hair."
Secondly, we are to take every thought captive or under full control. For instance, this means that if I am harbouring a thought of anger or revenge against someone who has wronged me that I corral that thought and conrol it. This is a vital step in getting victory. As long as that thought has a free range to run in my heart and mind, it will gain control rather than the other way around. Notice something very important here which leads us to the third element. Taking an errant thought captive is not the end of the process! Let me explain. In the old west cowboys would often bring wild horses to a town and fence them in in order to be broken or made rideable. They were not useful until that wild, uncontrolled nature was brought under control and managed. Cowboys would never just leave them corralled. They would follow this process with re-training these wild horses, and that is exactly what the apostle says in the final element of his statement above,
to take every thought captive to obey Christ.
Therein lies the key to ultimately winning the battle of your thought life. It's not enough just to stop or control bad thoughts. They ultimately have to be changed by making them become obedient to Jesus Christ. His standard must become our ultimate or final standard. It's imporant to realize here that we are not to obey a church standard or a group standard, but Christ's unchanging standard of holiness. Why? Because that standard never changes and cannot be altered by the changing whims of people or culture. You can win the battle of your thought life if you apply these three simple truths to the final frontier of your mind.......today!
Perhaps for each of us today as believers we also have a frontier that is beckoning us to capture it and control it, but it isn't an actual area of geography or space as we know it. Rather it is the wild and sometimes uncontrolable expanse of our own minds; namely our thought lives. For every believer who thinks they have achieved control of their outer lives and behavior, let them turn to the inner spaces of their thought lives and apply the same discipline.
I remember as a young Christian how foreign this idea seemed to me. I had grown up thinking that some things are mine and mine alone, that nobody had any right to tell me what to do in the most private areas of my life. So I didn’t allow anyone to control those areas, and I didn’t control them myself! In fact, in the beginning of my Christian walk, I didn't even think God had the right to control my innermost thoughts, at least not in any practical sense. I may have acknowledged that I had read it in the Bible, but it hadn't really reached my conscious behavior pattern.
But the day soon arrived when I understood that thoughts became actions, and actions became habits, and habits were producing character. That is when I began to think and act differently, very differently! If that is something of your experience, let me both gently encourage you forward but also challenge you to give Jesus control of the final frontier of your thought life as well.
Paul the apostle gave this command to the Corinthian believers in 2 Corinthians 10:5 when he said,
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ........
There are three clear and simple elements Paul touches on here that we must recognize if we are to win control of our thought lives. First, if we are going to control the final frontier of our minds we have to take every thought. It is not enough to limit ungodly or unrighteous thinking to just a few areas or categories. Every single thought has to be taken under our jurisdiction. There is no excuse to be used here to justify any exception. Satan only needs one unsecured place, and he will use one single area of weakness or disobedience to build a base of operations in your life to ultimately destroy your life. It may take some time, but our spiritual enemy has all the time in the world!
The great English preacher Charles Spurgeon used to say, "You can't stop the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from biuldng a nest in your hair."
Secondly, we are to take every thought captive or under full control. For instance, this means that if I am harbouring a thought of anger or revenge against someone who has wronged me that I corral that thought and conrol it. This is a vital step in getting victory. As long as that thought has a free range to run in my heart and mind, it will gain control rather than the other way around. Notice something very important here which leads us to the third element. Taking an errant thought captive is not the end of the process! Let me explain. In the old west cowboys would often bring wild horses to a town and fence them in in order to be broken or made rideable. They were not useful until that wild, uncontrolled nature was brought under control and managed. Cowboys would never just leave them corralled. They would follow this process with re-training these wild horses, and that is exactly what the apostle says in the final element of his statement above,
to take every thought captive to obey Christ.
Therein lies the key to ultimately winning the battle of your thought life. It's not enough just to stop or control bad thoughts. They ultimately have to be changed by making them become obedient to Jesus Christ. His standard must become our ultimate or final standard. It's imporant to realize here that we are not to obey a church standard or a group standard, but Christ's unchanging standard of holiness. Why? Because that standard never changes and cannot be altered by the changing whims of people or culture. You can win the battle of your thought life if you apply these three simple truths to the final frontier of your mind.......today!
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