"Bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ..." (2 Cor. 10 : 5)

Who can control his mind and yet – as I read it somewhere – carelessness with thoughts is as dangerous as toying with explosives. That's why the apostle Paul writes in Ph. 4 : 8, “Finally brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good repute, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things.”

This verse shows there is more to the battle for the mind than simply to stop thinking bad thoughts that are dragging us down in our Christian life. More positively, we must fill our mind with good thoughts. The battle for the mind is to have a mind that is pure and honourable before the LORD.

How to do this? The very simple answer is to live close to Scripture. In more practical terms this means to make time for and with the LORD, half an hour a day, as a bare minimum, so to speak; making time for the holy exercises of godliness, about with we read in Canons of Dort, Ch. 5, Art 2.

In Psalm 1 we read, “Blessed is the man ..., whose delight is in the law of the LORD and meditates on it day and night. He shall be like a tree, planted by the rivers of water... Whatever he does shall prosper.”

So, what are the things, we fill our mind with? In 2 Cor. 10, 5, the apostle Paul says that we must bring all our thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Only in this way will we be able to live truly Christian lives. Indeed, this starts in the mind.

Next, we also have to put this into action. We must take our thoughts captive for Christ, but then not just let them stay as thoughts, but also put it into practice, as the apostle Paul in his own life had given example of this. If we do so, says Paul, the God of peace will be with you, Ph. 4 : 9

May God give to all us what is needed in fighting this battle!