Colossians 2: 1-23
1 I 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.
2 My 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.
3 In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4 I am telling you this so that no one will be able to deceive you with persuasive arguments.
5 For 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.
6 And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to live in obedience to him.
7 Let 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.
8 Don’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, and not from Christ.
9 For in Christ the fullness of God lives in a human body,
10 and you are complete through your union with Christ. He is the Lord over every ruler and authority in the universe.
11 When 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.
12 For 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
.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. He forgave all our sins.
14 He canceled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ’s cross.
15 In this way, God disarmed the evil rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross of Christ.
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 were only shadows of the real thing, Christ himself.
18 Don’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.
19 But 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.
20 You 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.”
22 Such rules are mere human teaching about things that are gone as soon as we use them.
23 These 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.
So why do people continue to do rituals and practices to try and become close to God? Simply put they do not have Jesus as their personal Savior. Practicing in such ways is not fruitful and bears no witness to the power of the cross! What Jesus did to free us to be able to connect with God! Jesus is the ONLY WAY to God the Father! The bible plainly states that.
In these rougher years ahead it is vital that you have the security that only Jesus can provide! Are you willing to just go along with anything or anyone? If you do not have TRUE PEACE unwaivering then SOMETHING is wrong my friend!
Do not be decieved!!! This is truly a matter of LIFE or DEATH and I am not talking just about you die and that’s it I’m talking about ETERNITY!
Be Blessed!
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Tina you hit it right on. We must begin to realize who we are in Christ, it is not to lift ourselves up but to acknowledge what has been given to us. I love my children and want to teach them, love them, encourage them, but what if they went around saying “I am unloved, I am afraid of what my mom will do to me and so on” I would be so hurt that she didn’t have confidence in my love for her, that she didn’t believe me when I told her she was wonderful, that she lives in fear of my condemnation. I have spent my life listening to Satan condemn me, if I who am evil can give good gifts to my children then how much more can God give perfect gifts? Eph 1:3- “I am blessed in the heavenly realms with every kind of of spiritual blessing in Christ. Christ chose me before the creation of the world, knowing what I would do and say, he chose me to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love he predestined me to be adopted as his daughter through Jesus in accordance with His will and PLEASURE. In him I have redemption through his blood I have forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of Gods grace that he LAVISHED on me with all wisdom. Who are we to argue with this? We must get beyond this and become mature attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. If you give your child food and he is hungry, but leaves the plate full because he is afraid to take it, what does that say to you? It is a slap in the face, you want him to have it, you love him, it gives you pleasure to see him get full. Jesus came to calm the seas in our life, so that we are not tossed back and forth with every wind of teaching, He came for us to have peace and to understand we have victory over the devils schemes. Lets grow up in Christ, speak in love, pull our ‘body’ together to be under the head of Christ and let each part begin to support eachother, and grow up in love. Let us answer Jesus’s prayer and be ONE!