THE ALTERNATE BATTLE
What’s the difference between a dead bear and a live one? Poke it and if alive, run for your life as it will come after you. What’s the difference between a dead fish and a live one? The former is carried by the current, the latter swims against it to move purposefully forward. What characterizes a person who is truly alive? Engagement in the alternate battle! Paul describes this alternate spiritual battle masterfully in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.
Alternate war: Paul is talking of the spiritual battle, which characterizes every person who is truly alive. While everyone physically present in this world is engaged in a physical and materialistic battle, the minority who are truly alive engage in the spiritual battle. The former consists of striving and struggling to gain wealth, popularity and become more substantial in this world. The latter consists of striving to become more substantial in the presence of God. The latter arises out of a recognition that there is an unseen dominant spiritual realm co-existing with the physical world we readily experience.
Alternate weapons: Every battle is fought with weapons and the world we live in trains us to be equipped to advance in this world. People take their cues from others, the media, the value systems and worldly education to strive forward in this world. However, a person who is alive takes hold of the most potent weapons available to man- those with divine power to demolish spiritual strongholds. Access to these is granted when a person unites himself with the One who dominates the spiritual realm- Christ, the true Incarnate, who paid the price for man’s sins and stands supreme in all of creation. Weapons of faith, righteousness, prayer, the word of God, obedience, integrity, etc. become available, enabling man to wake up from his slumber and move forward.
Alternate targets: Battles are won when key targets are taken out. Engaging in the spiritual battle is not even a possibility for one who is not in Christ, because spiritual strongholds keep a man captive. He might gain things in this world, but will remain spiritually bankrupt because these are too strong for him. However, with the alternate weapons now made available, he targets these strongholds to break free. These critical targets are twofold. First, the arguments against God and Christ that the liberal media and academia enthusiastically teaches. Second, these are pretensions that make the world appear to a normal person as all there is. A person who is truly alive recognizes that there is more to the world than wealth, popularity and the multiple pursuits of life.
Alternate battlefield: Recognizing the battlefield is important in a war. You can’t be fighting on the land when the sea is the key battlefield. Whereas the physical realm is the battleground for the normal person, for one who is alive, the key battlefield is the mind. It is in the mind that the alternate spiritual battle is won or lost. When the mind is set, the body and the world follow. The person who has mastered the alternate battle is one who is able to achieve the equilibrium of being able to control the mind to the extent of taking every thought and making it obedient to Christ. As we move toward that lofty goal, we transform our desires and renew our minds to take on the nature of Christ who is perfect.
We don’t even begin to live unless we recognize the spiritual realm and start to engage in the spiritual alternate battle. The possibilities of such a life are mind-boggling!
