Colossians – Week 5 – Day 4

READ 

Colossians 2:20-22 

20 You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, 21 “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”? 22 Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. 

Whereas Colossians 2:18-19 warned about mysticism, Paul warned against asceticism in these verses. Some want to completely withdraw from the world. They think the world might corrupt them. Those who major on do’s and don’ts rather than serving Christ out of love are known as “legalists.” This is an attempt to seem more spiritual by keeping rules. This is an artificial godliness.  

REFLECT 

Do you evaluate your godliness by your love for Jesus or by the rules you follow? 

RESPOND 

Talk with your disciple about the need to draw closer to the Lord Jesus rather than focusing on rules to make one seem more spiritual. The believers in Paul’s time had fallen into the trap of legalism. Read what he told them in Galatians 3:1-4.