sooo, i find myself turning to colossians over and over again…i need reminded of some great truth in there…of some challenges…and this morning is one of those days…
i’m in chapter two reading these verses…
6 And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him.7 Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.
8 Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powerss of this world, rather than from Christ.9 For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.s10 So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
11 When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature.s12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.
13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins.14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.15 In this way, he disarmeds the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.
16 So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths.17 For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality.18 Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels,s saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud,19 and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it.
20 You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as,21 “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”?22 Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them.23 These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.
the second half of verse 6 and all of verse 7 are where i have to stay focused…it starts out…you MUST continue…to follow Him…not a man, not a philosophy, not a ministry, not my passions, not my desires…HIM…it doesn’t matter where i’m at in life…it doesn’t matter what i’m going through…it doesn’t matter where i want to go…i MUST continue to follow Him…it’s NOT optional!!!
then if you look at verse 7 i see that my roots and my foundation are to be in and on ONE thing…HIM…nothing else…
that’s where i’m at right now…allowing those verses to soak in…reminding myself over and over that verse 6 is not optional…searching in me to see if verse 7 is true for my life…
that is what my challenge is for you…if you’re in a battle with a person, with an addiction, with a disease…no matter what…
you MUST continue…
