The Place to Be #71

 Colossians 2:16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

As we mentioned yesterday, the core of Paul's concern was the turning away of some from trusting fully in Christ and Christ alone for their salvation and sanctification.  They were adding to, and worse yet, replacing Christ with self-made ways to godliness, be it rites and ceremonies, self-righteous asceticism, or the worship of spiritual beings instead of the One Who made them.  The root of all these things was pride and a heart and mind guided by the flesh.  When you have a whole group of people following these things, it is like a body running around without a head. It is in danger of self-harm and harming others as well. Rather than growing stronger and healthier, such a body would wither away to nothing.  Our only hope for spiritual growth - individually and corporately - is to stay attached to and dependent upon our head, Christ.