The Three Cs

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. I have been seeing this a lot of my readings of late. Watch out, Paul shouts, again. Watch out for the Judaizers! (Gal. 2:4) Watch out for the Pharisees! (Phil. 3:5) Watch out for the Gnostics! Watch out for the false teachers! (2 Cor. 11:4). Watch out! Don't be deceived. There is only one path to heaven, Paul is reminding us, again. And that is, Jesus (Col. 1:13-14). Christ lived for you! Christ died for you! And now, Christ lives for you! That's right, Christ LIVES for you! Jesus was dead (John 19:33-34). He was rotting in the grave (John 19:42). But now he is alive (John 20:27). The Alpha and Omega (Rev. 1:8), the creator of the world (Col. 1:16, Gen. 1:1), the Living Word, who was with God and was God (John 1:1-2), was dead but is now alive, and most importantly, lives in you (Col....

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Why do so many people have such a negative view of what it means to be a Christian? Or maybe I should rephrase that, why do so many people get hung up on the "don't do" lists of the Bible? I spent more time today swallowing the amazing richness of Colossians Chapter 1, where Paul spells out the incomparable greatness of our Lord: He is the creator, the sustainer, the alpha, the omega, the judge, the savior. But as I searched for a verse to post on Facebook this morning, I couldn't get past the classic memory verse from Colossians 3:12. As I reflected on it, I kept thinking about something a friend said to me yesterday, "you don't bog yourself down, which I dig." Too often, people zoom in on those "don't do" lists of the Scripture. Take, for example, Colossians 3:5: Put to death, therefore, whateve...