Ephesians 4:25-32
Verse 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Now that we have a slightly better understanding about taking our thoughts captive we need to think about some of the practical ways we do that and what it means for our spiritual life to take them captive. Paul lists a few things in this passage which should help us see the practical nature of righting our thinking through the understanding of our salvation through the Lord, Jesus Christ.
Paul starts out with lying. We don’t like to think of ourselves as liars but the truth is we are tempted more often than necessary. We would do well to understand how falsehood always starts with a thought. The thought may be our finding ourselves in a situation where if we were honest the other person may think less of us or maybe if we tell the truth we know we will face some sort of consequence. No matter the situation, for at least a split second, we are thinking through if we are going to tell the truth or not.
Next Paul talks about being angry. None of us are exempt from moments of anger, it is what we give heed to in our thought process at the onset of the anger which sends us in the direction of how we deal with the situation at hand. If we allow the thought to continue of how that person is making us mad we are likely going to make it personal and start attacking the person instead of the situation. If we take our thoughts captive and address our feelings about the situation instead of the person, we are more likely not to sin when we are angry.
It only takes one quick thought to cause us to take something which doesn’t belong to us, whether it is the dollar the guy in front of us dropped or a cookie from the plate we have been told we can’t have any of. It all starts with a thought which leads to a response which will either please the Lord or please ourselves.
And if we don’t control our thinking there is a good chance we will not be able to control our words. Our words are something we don’t think through nearly enough. The amount of idle conversations we have or times we wish we could take words back prove that true. But with the helmet of salvation we can be trained to think before we speak and act. When we do, there will be no doubt we are in His army.
Making It Personal
Which of these things do you struggle most with? Why do you think you struggle controlling your thoughts in that area? What can you do to better control your thoughts?
Making It Personal Kids
Do you struggle with any thing on the list? Why is it hard for you to have Jesus kind of thoughts about that? What can help you think better?
Closing Prayer
Father, we know it is easier to speak and act without thinking. Help us learn what it truly means to take our thoughts captive so we can bring glory to You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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