Singing this song at church on Sunday reminded me how much I love it.  Hadn’t heard it in awhile, so it was good to watch this video a few times today.

Colossians 2:8 – “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”

When it comes to truth and spirituality, if you have the “what” without the “why” you wind up with a hollow and deceptive philosophy known as religion.

Paul is strongly warning the Jesus followers in Colosse of how easily this can happen.

The “what” is the details of how we should live.  It’s expectations of conduct.  It’s the language we use.  It’s the image we give off.  It’s manners, and morals, and ethics.

Nothing inherently wrong or bad with any of those.  In fact, there is an incredible amount of good there.

Therein lies the problem.   It is incredibly appealing.  It’s much easier to try to control and manipulate behavior without ever addressing the heart.

Earlier in the chapter he strongly presents the “why” though.  Here’s what he says:  ”Just as you received Christ…continue to live in Him.”

How do any of us receive Christ?  Through faith.  We must continue to live in Him through faith.

Any Christless version of truth is futile and counterproductive in it’s ability to do anything about the inherent human condition.

Paul’s point is that it actually makes it worse.  Because it lulls us into a false sense of security.  Because it serves to only strengthen the impulses and urges we are attempting to control.  (“they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence” – vs. 23)

The difficult part of this conversation as a Christian is that none of us feel like it applies to us.  It’s extremely difficult to see this in the mirror.

However, when we focus on rooting our life and identity in Christ and strengthening our faith (vs. 7), we’ll stay connected to the Head (vs. 19) and put off the sinful nature (vs. 11).

By the way, in his letter to the Romans, Paul tells us that faith comes by hearing God speak his truth to us through His Word.  That’s how we strengthen our faith.

As your alone with God today, listen for His voice speaking to you through His Word…..and let your faith be strengthened as a result.