Dear Friends,
I’ve been writing for a few weeks about Paul’s letter to the Colossian church and how those in Jesus are not to try to copy Jewish holiday celebrations or follow Jewish laws around food or the Sabbath. These rules were given to a specific people for a specific purpose at a specific time. And for Christians to adopt them is not to follow Jesus but to make up our own religion apart from Jesus.
Paul explains why Christians should not adopt Jewish rules and rituals in Col. 2:22-3:4. I’ve been finding most English translations of this section difficult to follow. So this week I’m using my own translation:
“These are all human teachings about things that get used up and then are gone, teachings based on the wisdom of a made-up religion of false humility and asceticism that is of no actual use in preventing people from carrying out the evil they desire to do. If you have been raised with Christ, then pursue the things of heaven, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Concern yourself with heavenly things, not earthly things. You died, and your life has been hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, your life, appears, you will also appear with him in a state of incredible brilliance.”
As in 1 Cor. 13:8-9, which I wrote to you about last month, a distinction is being made between what is temporal and what is eternal. When we make up our own religion about how we interact with perishable things, we’re just messing around, playing games with objects that aren’t important and don’t last. But those who are in Jesus have become eternal, and we should concern ourselves with what is also eternal. This doesn’t mean embracing asceticism. The point isn’t to ignore or be cruel to our bodies. And it doesn’t mean cultivating an attitude of weird, falsely spiritual vacancy. The things of heaven, as discussed last week, aren’t found in images of angelic beings in the sky or the pursuit of some kind of abstract mystical vibe. The things of heaven are the things that matter to God and that will matter to God forever, namely, the people he created, their beauty and dignity, how we treat them as we grow in character and learn to be more like Jesus - in a word, love.
A prayer:
Jesus, take our minds off of the small and petty things of this world and help us to focus on what really matters, which is knowing you in your great love. Amen.
Love in Christ,
Michelle
