6/28/12- Not the Externals

¹⁶ Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. ¹⁷ These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. ¹⁸ Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. ¹⁹ He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. (Colossians 2:16-19)

(Human body- ligament system)


Thoughts: Religion often focuses on external and measurable observation: steps to take, paths to trod, things to do, eat, days to observe.  Christian faith focuses on the Head- Christ- and our relationship with Him.
    The Colossians believers were being discouraged and judged by Jewish practitioners and gnostic heretics who wanted to simply focus on everything else but Christ.  They turned their attention to ascetic practices- dietary laws and special holidays- and then superstitiously to the worship of spiritual beings besides Christ.  Today too- in our especially secular church and secular world- there are those who would have us focus on life- by focusing on diets, on holidays (secular of course).  Even some good Christians think that if they only avoid drug and alcohol abuse and come to church on major holidays (Easter, Christmas, Mother's Day, maybe July 4th?), then they have satisfied the requirements of being a good believer.
    This is NOT, as some have tried to make it, a license to say what we eat and drink do not matter- and we may therefore abuse our bodies freely.  This is NOT  a warrant for breaking one of the Ten Commandments about taking a Sabbath.  In our crazy, super-rushed world, we need a day of rest and focus.  It is about saying that we are not condemned to hell for not observing these secondary things all the time.  The externals are not unimportant, but they are not the main thing.  We do not go to heaven by observing any external law.  Our relationship to the Head pulls us into heaven.  


Prayer: Help me, O Lord, to focus on you.  May my relationship with you be pure and true.