Don't Get Distracted! - Col 2:8-17

Our task as Christians is to live life in, with, and for Christ. What distracts us from that? Scripture instructs us to “see to it” that we don’t get distracted, but we are not alone. God Himself is ever with us, sanctifying us to be like Christ.

"In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not done with hands by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of the Messiah." Because of what HE is able to do and DID do for us (a circumcision made without hands) , the flesh, with its pulls, temptations, control by the world, adaptation to secular structures, (uncircumcised lips, ears, hearts, fruit, etc . . .)has been cut away! Circumcision is a symbol of purity. We are free of ALL that impurity to live as God designed us. We are new creatures with a brand new way to operate!! We start off with the same amount of experiential information as a newborn - not quite as helpless, but a good illustration. But we are not left alone! Verse 10 shows we’re filled with the best guidance, the best resource of all, Him who is the Head of all rule and authority!! We must learn to be in line with His Spirit and with scripture, and to depend solely on Him, else the structure and resources of the uncircumcised world ("Everybody else does it." "We have always done it.""You have to do it to get by." "It all depends on how you look at it) will fill our minds and our energies again. We have to guard against the re-invasion of the world by asking: "Is it right?" "Does it please God?" "Will it bring glory to God?" "Is God at the center of this, or big I?" By committing ourselves to continuously asking ourselves these things daily, our thinking begins to be transformed and our mind takes the form of the mind of Christ. We must do this or we will be re-immersed into the world. Why, after being set free, would we go back into the death mode of our sin, a “survival mode” in the world, with relationships that continually suffer and without communion with God?

We should remember circumcision as the sign and seal of the covenant of grace that it is. As part of cutting our death away, Christ paid a debt he didn't owe but that we were helpless to pay. He canceled the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. Instead of receiving the death penalty, we’ve received a Life sentence! As Christ, God reconciled the world to Himself and committed to and in us the work of reconciliation, a work that requires/drives/compels us to become more like Christ and to pay no allegiance to this world.

As we follow Christ, let us not fall into the trap for which Jesus so violently chided the Pharisees. All the work to become acceptable for a relationship with God has been accomplished. Anything else we do to show that we are worthy is just that, show! God makes it clear that he despises that stuff. Follow Jesus first, not man-made traditions. Tradition alone is a shadow. We don’t have life because we are doing religious things. Look for the substance of Christ that is casting the shadow. That is what we are striving for. Everything that isn’t fullness in Christ that is ours has to be left behind. Separating the shadow from the substance in our traditions isn’t always easy. We are to be convinced in our own minds, not trying to impress someone else’s. Things like this require studying out.

Dear God, guard my mind from the pull of this world. Help me to be consistently and personally involved in reading Your word and understanding the life I have in Jesus Christ. Guide my every thought that it may not be affected by the vanity, pride, politics, intellectual-arrogant-temporary- subjective wisdom of this broken world. Keep me away from the man-made lists that are formed to get your attention. Help me to see your substance alone as I strive to live according to Your Word.

Created over 2 years ago