“So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it.” Colossians 2:16-19 NLT
Once again, it's all about Christ. Jesus is the Christ (God's Anointed One). Since He is Christ, why do any of us need to try to add anything to His All Sufficiency? We CANNOT add one iota to Christ! He's everything!!! No holy day observance can suffice! No diet plan can suffice! No physical discipline regiment used to punish the flesh can suffice! No "new fangled" doctrine or "special revelation" by some false prophet can suffice. Inappropriate angel worship can't suffice. Angels are created beings. Jesus is the creator! Nothing, absolutely nothing, can suffice apart from Christ!!! The reason He came, the reason He was born, the reason He lived a sinless life, the reason He died, and the reason He resurrected was to declare His sufficiency! We have no authority to interject anything whatsoever! Jesus plus something is a flat out lie! Jesus plus nothing is the flat out truth!!! Place 1 beside a 0 and you have 10. Jesus is the 1 and I am the 0. 1 plus nothing is a perfect 10!!! 0 without the 1 is nothing! Without Christ we are nothing!! With Him we are complete and perfected! Our righteousness does not come from any deeds we do, any religious disciplines or rituals, or any traditions of men. Our righteousness is derived from Christ in us. Only when we surrender to Him, and allow the Holy Spirit to direct our lives, are we living righteously. When we do anything to try to earn God's acceptance we are repulsive to a Holy, righteous God because we are corrupt apart from Christ. Only through Christ are we acceptable to God (see John 14:6). Matthew Henry has said that we "cannot be built up in Him or grow up in Him unless we are rooted in Him and founded upon Him." When we are rooted in Him, and founded upon Him, we are, then, ready to build and grow in our understanding of Him. We live righteously because of the presence of Christ in us, not because we are striving to achieve His righteousness. We are complete in Him (see Colossians 2:10). To be "complete" means to have all furnishings necessary for salvation. No one would hitch a horse behind a wagon because that would be utterly backward. The horse pulls the wagon. Trying to use our works to get into God's grace is just like trying to pull a horse with a wagon - ridiculous and totally ineffective. I could spend a lifetime trying to pull a horse with a wagon or I could simply do the correct thing and hitch the wagon behind the horse. He, Jesus, can pull the wagon!!! Just get in the wagon! He's the Key! Stop trying to pick the lock. Thieves pick locks. Residents use the key. What are you?
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March 2020
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