Colossians – Week 5 – Day 5

READ 

Colossians 2:23 

23 These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires. 

Those wanting to be more spiritual by keeping rules are setting themselves up for failure. Adam and Eve could eat from any tree in the Garden of Eden, but their minds were focused only on the one that was forbidden. They were not robots, and they used their free will to choose to go their way instead of God’s way. Adam’s sin poisoned all successive generations. 

REFLECT 

What has been your experience in trying to follow rules? Has it brought you more spiritual victories or less? 

RESPOND 

For background about Adam and Eve, read Genesis 3:1-7; Romans 5:12; and 1 Timothy 2:14. To see how the apostle Paul was defeated by rules, read Romans 7:7-12.