Vain Imaginations

Hi

So today I will be talking about casting down vain imaginations. I guess you could describe what I am sharing about in my post today as ramblings or as a concerted effort towards having a renewed mind and I trust you will enjoy reading this.  My text comes from the 2^nd book of Corinthians as follows:

    

2 Cor. 10:5-6

5 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. 6 Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.

(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)

    

2 Cor. 10:5

5 [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One),

THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE

And having read this text, I am sure the first thing that comes to most of our minds when we think about vain imaginations is excessive, unnecessary flaunting and flashing of wealth; flagrant sinful lifestyles and forthright contempt of the Word of God and everything that it represents. We understand what vain imaginations are when evolutionists tell us we are overdeveloped gorillas and that life originated in and of itself by some random spark; and likewise we understand vain imaginations when atheists attempt to convince us that there is no God and it’s all about man alone in this universe. We understand full well what vain imaginations are, (though we may be afraid to say it), when we see the ancestral worship that goes on and when the dead are venerated as the guardians of the future and the ones whose will and words are to be followed and when you once in a while here someone touting out the outdated notions that academic intelligence is sex-dependant. All too well we understand what vain imaginations are in these scenarios and our discernment is often spot on and faultless. But as I believe I have written about before though probably not with the same wording, this is one side of the coin; and there is another whose existence we may know off in theory but that in practice we fail to discern as we erroneously think it is humility. It is this idea or way of living where we think of ourselves below what God has called us to be; where we do not acknowledge the good things of who we are as new creations and continue moving on with limp shoulders and downcast visages in the name of humility.

You see, humility when it comes to the life of a Believer has a simple definition; which is to accept the Word of God as truth on everything it says about who we are, who we ought to be and everything else it talks about and to commit ourselves to see ourselves how it describes us and to think and live like it says. You see, it is an error to think you can call what you do and think humility if it is in any way contrary to what God says and thinks. Jesus talking about man says “I say ye are gods,” (John 10:34) and in one moment defines us not as weaklings but as delegated authority. The word says “We are children of God,” (PS 82:6) and that “our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). We are described as the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21), a holy nation, a peculiar people, a royal priesthood and a chosen generation. (1 Peter 2:9) and to be honest, so much more. Quite frankly, the bible more or less tells us that we are awesome in a manner of speaking; we have been placed in a privileged position of possessing influence with God to work with Him to change the world and He calls us “the righteousness of God.” And if we are to truly be humble, to accept this as truth and nothing less, then we cannot beat ourselves down at all. No, rather joy should flow out of our hearts as we realise we have been made by God, for God and He is with us even now.

Consider the example of David before Goliath. Though David was a youth, inexperienced in war, He knew who He was in God and who Goliath was. In spite of the size of Goliath, all David could see was an uncircumcised Philistine, with no covenant with God and for this reason he could only see the battle going one way. I can assure you many today see people with this kind of attitude and call it pride and imposing our will onto God. How can my life not be successful if the living God is my refuge? How can I not overcome the troubles I face if the Father has said He will be with me? Why should I be afraid of sickness if the Bible says by His stripes I was healed? Why? Has God changed between the time of David and now? Is He exhausted from all those fights that now He is wilting and ready to give in? NO; of course not. You see, today we are into political correctness and we have neglected the Word and what it means to adhere to it. No Israelite of old would have been afraid of battle knowing that they had been observing the law. Should I now be now that I am the righteousness of God? Now that Christ once and for all has paid the price for all my sin past, present and future? NO; that is ridiculous my friends. We are God’s children and it is time we act like it. It is not pride, that is who we are and living like who we are is the truest act of humility. Anything else basically is calling God a liar.

I am into art, drawing and painting that is, and I appreciate a good design when I see it. And one thing I know about art is there is no way that you can give glory to an artist by pointing out all the flaws and calling his painting ugly; doing that we all know will serve not to bring glory but only criticism and the possibility of shame. We are like a painting, and God is the painter. The Bible puts it this way; we are God’s workmanship, created anew in Christ. Now knowing this, how will looking down on ourselves and thinking of ourselves as nothing bring glory to God? Really my friends, how? Is not that attitude a mere vain imagination that needs to be cast down?

Selah