Today Our Daily Bread Col 2

Col 2:1-23
1I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other friends who have never known me personally. 2My goal is that they will be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have full confidence because they have complete understanding of God's secret plan, which is Christ himself. 3In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4I am telling you this so that no one will be able to deceive you with persuasive arguments. 5For though I am far away from you, my heart is with you. And I am very happy because you are living as you should and because of your strong faith in Christ.
Freedom from Rules and New Life in Christ
6And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to live in obedience to him. 7Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all he has done.
8Don't let anyone lead you astray with empty philosophy and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the evil powers of this world, F7 and not from Christ. 9For in Christ the fullness of God lives in a human body, F8 10and you are complete through your union with Christ. He is the Lord over every ruler and authority in the universe.
11When you came to Christ, you were "circumcised," but not by a physical procedure. It was a spiritual procedure—the cutting away of your sinful nature. 12For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to a new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.
13You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all our sins. 14He canceled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ's cross. 15In this way, God disarmed the evil rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross of Christ.
16So 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. 17For these rules were only shadows of the real thing, Christ himself. 18Don't let anyone condemn you by insisting on self-denial. And don't let anyone say you must worship angels, even though they say they have had visions about this. These people claim to be so humble, but their sinful minds have made them proud. 19But they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For we are joined together in his body by his strong sinews, and we grow only as we get our nourishment and strength from God.
20You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the evil powers of this world. So why do you keep on following rules of the world, such as, 21"Don't handle, don't eat, don't touch." 22Such rules are mere human teaching about things that are gone as soon as we use them. 23These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, humility, and severe bodily discipline. But they have no effect when it comes to conquering a person's evil thoughts and desires.
FOOTNOTES:F7: Or from the basic principles of this world; also in 2:20. F8: Greek in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Lena’s Journalin’~
How would you know if you were being led astray? Astray from what? Or whom? The answer is, your faith in Christ. How would you know if you were deferred from that faith? Only by knowing Him, Christ, which is the Word of God made flesh (John 1). How do we know enough about Him, or know Him personally enough to know whether we are led astray from His knowledge? By knowing God’s word. He and His word are one. The sinful, flesh fed, and worldly desire seeking nature must die! It must be separated from our everyday lies. It must be separated from us to such an extent that we can tell the difference and know the difference and loathe the difference. If we say we are Christ’s, why do we feed on other sources? Why do we entertain other guests? Why do we listen to other voices? Why do we practice worldly ways and thinking? Why do we fight God? That enemy needs to be recognized and crucified.
When we read, do not let anyone condemn you for…we can let pride rise up and rebellion show its face and say- "Yeah, don’ let…any one judge us..." This IS NOT what this is saying. If our sinful nature is cut away then we are already liberated, and there is no cause to "judge", there is no occasion for anyone to stumble over our lives. Holiness, or doing the word of God in living it in a personal way, leaves no room for judgements, period. Our obedience in contrast to our enemy’s disobedience, gains us the automatic victory, and shows that our enemy has NOTHING on us at all. Do you see, how mere obedient action, sets the enemy aflame, consumes his plight against us? He has nothing in us, when we do not even give him the time of day. It is not religious acts that make us right with God, it is love for and action of faith taken in believing in God’s Son. One who knows Him and believes that He is, obeys Him, and that obedience, and the pursuit of further obedience and the seeking of the knowledge of further obedience paves his roadway clear of harm.
So lets’ touch on a religious root here. It means NOTHING to God or to God’s enemy- who by the way can see right through our motives, to see a person doing good works. Works that make us look like we are good, by doing something good, thinking that by doing something nice and good, we’ll be somehow good, or it will be accounted to us as though we are good, because we were willing at least to do the good thing. God looks on the heart- period. Even the enemy has been familiar with religious works for generations of time and has seen people feel they are satisfying God to do works, even the enemy can sense phoneiness. The good works, without true faith and motivation of love for God, will be burned up with fire. It is LOVE that will never fail and will endure everything. Only Love can and will do that. Faith work by Love, there are good works to be done, to be accomplished, but these will only stand through the test of love, with faith as a partner teammate.