We have all heard these words before: fortified and supplement. We see “fortified” on things like bread and cereal packaging. It signals us that the product has something extra added into the mix that has become a part of the whole and cannot be separated out. In the example of bread it is usually fortified with vitamins and minerals. This means there are key nutrients added to the dough before baking it and as an end result the bread has even more goodness than before. The additional things become a part of the whole.

When we supplement we are taking something separate from the whole and adding to it as a side note. I think of my daily vitamin. I supplement my diet with a daily vitamin so I can boost up my intake of whatever good things are in the vitamin. (I’m not a nutritionist so I’m going to go into the details of why these things work or how because I have pretty much no idea. I digress.) The good stuff of a supplement can be easily forgotten where as something that is fortified cannot. I forget to take my daily vitamin often, and so I miss out on the good stuff in there because of that.

You cannot get away from the good stuff in something that is fortified because it is already a part of the whole.

This gets me thinking about our spiritual lives. How can we transition from a life that is supplemented with the good things of God to a life that is fortified? A life that is infused with God, not merely supplemented along the way? This is the kind of life God wants us to have. A life where our relationship with Him is consistent, constant, and continual -through all things. We walk a dangerous path when our lives are supplemented by the word of God rather than fortified. It leaves us venerable to living with God as a side note.

How can we do this? How do we put down the supplements and instead fortify our lives with living water? It does take effort on our part. We must chase Jesus and follow His ways. We must commit to reading the word and “setting our mind on things above” and “taking captive our thoughts and making them obedient to Christ” as we see in Colossians and 2 Corinthians.

“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Colossians 3:2

This means we can take control over our minds, and our thoughts, and direct them to the things of God. We have a choice, we need to choose make this effort. It gets easier over time and allowing the Holy Spirit to work through our lives is crucial here.

“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” 2 Corinthians 10:5

Heavenly Father we thank you and praise you. Isaiah 55:8-9 says: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”. Help us to take captive our thoughts and to set our minds on the things of Heaven. Show us the ways in which our thinking is wrong and not in line with your word. Grow us in the area of supplementing vs fortifying and help to guide us into a life that is infused and fortified with your word. Strengthen us in this way so that we may continue to live lives that speak the Gospel through our actions and our characters. Thank you for our Salvation and for the mighty things you are doing here on earth still. In Jesus mighty name, amen. 

For a more in depth look at 2 Corinthians 10:5 check out this article here.