Disconnected In Heaven?

Have we can become tricked into thinking that our worth is tied to the systems of humanity, whether the American Dream or religious rules (pick your church – we all have ’em) or otherwise?  That sounds like a drift into people-pleasing from God-pleasing…

16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. 19 They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

20 Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
Colossians 2:16-23

Paul is getting to the heart of the matter with the Colossians and with us.  When we lose our connection to the head, who is Jesus, we start missing the point, and as Paul says, we can act like we belong to the world instead of our Lord.  This is fundamental.  It’s essential.  It’s probably the most important truth relating to the practice of our faith.

Jesus died so we could be free in him.  And the way we live our lives often puts us in bondage to the chains of human rules and order.  When we do this, we push the Spirit aside and we disconnect from the head.

Notice that the human rules, which Paul exemplifies in“Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!” may help us earn the praise or respect of others in our circles, yet they lack any value in restraining indulgence.  How could that be?  If I don’t touch, I don’t touch.  Isn’t that the goal?  Apparently not.  If we read through Jesus’s sermon on the mountain from Matthew 5-7, Jesus tells us that what happens in our heart and mind (i.e. lust or anger, etc) is what gets us in trouble.  Even before we act.

So obeying the ‘rules’ by not acting doesn’t save us in our hearts and mind.  It’s the Spirit who guides and provides on the heart-mind level.  And if we are pushing the Spirit aside to focus on the rules of men, we’ll look good in the world and we’ll look disconnected in heaven.

May it never be.

Marc Kinna