July 3: Don’t follow mere shadows

Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day — things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self–abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.   (Colossians 2:16-19 — New American Standard Bible)

False teachers in the church in Colosse were pressuring people to obey certain religious traditions of the Jewish law, teaching people to scrape and bow, to worship angels, and to base their faith on visions they had seen — things that are sadly still going on in churches today. Paul, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, doesn’t hold back when correcting these mistakes, accusing these leaders of being judgmental, chasing shadows, having an inflated sense of themselves, being fleshly, being frauds, and not holding fast to the Head (Jesus). Many things can have a look of being spiritual and godly, when they are in fact demonic. The devil is not as obvious as we would many times like to think.

Remember that religion is, and has always been, one of the most effective tools of Satan! So don't pay attention to ritual, to religious traditions, to dreams and visions, and don’t get carried away with things that are not clearly taught in the Word of God. Our faith needs to be kept simple and focused on God, His Word, and seeing His fruit, not on prophecies and dreams. Some of the rituals and commands of the Old Testament were useful at the time they were given, but were a “mere shadow” of what was to come in Jesus, and so it didn’t make sense then, and it doesn’t make sense now, to believe in the shadow when we have the real thing. 

Everything begins with the Head — Jesus. The church and our lives are held together and grow only when we concentrate on Him. No body can function without a head. It can live without an arm or leg, but not without a head. The head brings guidance and order to the body, and to our lives and the church. When we lose sight of the Lord Jesus Christ and become infatuated with ourselves, with how great we are, how smart, how experienced, or with our reputation, or the revelations we’ve been given, Jesus is pushed into the background and we become frauds. — Make Jesus the center of your life so that your body — tendons, ligaments, and joints — will be nourished and held together, and the end result of your life be growth… a lot of growth.