To Love is to CAPTURE!

What exactly does it look like to take my thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ?  How do I do this?  I just heard a message at my church, LCBC, that helps illustrate.  

The message today was about how followers of Christ are called to be His disciples.  As disciples, we are to listen to the words He preached in the Bible and apply them to our lives.  The most important thing He taught us is to simply love Him and others.  

No always so simple, right?  I mean, I can pretend to love others by my outward appearance (a forced smile, an begrudging handshake, fake eyes of empathy) but my inward thoughts tell my true attitude toward them.

How can I love others if I don’t think loving thoughts about them?  

My thoughts are particularly unloving of people, groups, communities, brands,  organizations, and leaders who think and act differently then I do.  I feel justified to measure my thoughts and actions against theirs in a grandiose display of how great I am and how terrible they are.  

Jesus has a message for people like me:  

Matthew 7

New International Version (NIV)

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

This is an example of how I will CAPTURE my thoughts and make them obedient to Christ.  When my thoughts move to judge someone, I’ll CAPTURE them and ask, “Is this thought showing love toward them?  Do I want someone judging me the way I am judging them?  Am I seeing their perspective clearly enough to accurately judge their words or actions?”  If the answer to any of these questions is NO, I must completely demolish that thought and instead replace it with one that is loving.  

To do this is to honor the discipleship of Christ in my life.    

A New Year, A New Resolution

Thus begins a New Year and with it a new resolution.  I’ve made the infamous “New Years Resolution” at the beginning of just about every year I’ve been alive, and like most of us, have completely chucked it no later then first week in February.

This year will be different.  This year I am sticking with this resolution all the way to Dec. 31.  “How,” you may ask?  By loosing all the promises I’ve made for massive and widespread self-improvement and just focusing on one word.  

The My One Word experiment was started by the church I attended while living in North Carolina (Port City Community Church) and has manifest into book with the same title.  A lot of people have adopted this practice and it’s changed their lives.  I’ve attempted the My One Word resolution probably 5 times now and have failed to follow through with all of them.  Fortunately, my success rate will be much better this time around!

Part of the reason I’ve tanked on my word in the past is I didn’t know how to effectively engage in the process.  The book “My One Word” is a valuable tool to help the reader walk through the resolution process, one step at a time.  I am excited about the book, the process, and the promise that God will use my word over the course of 2013 to transform my life.  

My one word for the year is CAPTURE.  I’ve chosen this from a verse in the Bible, 2 Corinthians 10:5.  It says,

 “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 

I generally have a negative attitude toward life.  My mind often wanders toward thoughts which are pessimistic, judgmental, and hurtful toward others.  Everything in my life is effected by thoughts, most importantly the condition of my heart.  Protecting my heart must be a top priority and the negative thoughts must to be stopped now.  

To CAPTURE is to “gain by force” or “take control over.”  I resolve this year to aggressively take hold of my thoughts and bring them against the commands, knowledge, and sovereignty of Christ.  If they are opposed to Him, I will ask for His strength to destroy them.  By doing this, I pray God will teach me to capture my negative thoughts before they enter my heart, and replace them with the goodness of His.  

To find out more about My One Word, check out: 

http://myoneword.org/