Lisstening to Who

DEVOTION

COLOSSIANS

LISTENING TO WHO

Col 2:8

8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
NIV

It would seem that as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ who is filled with the Holy Spirit would be a person who would surely be able to read the Word of God and discern the truth within. Yet it would seem a warning here to those believers not to be lead astray by religious leaders that teach something else. The basic principles of this world can not apply to a believer’s way of living. Attaining righteousness through doing good deeds, as expressed by some, only leads to being deceived away from the truth. If I think and act with goodness and kindness toward others I am living a good life, God would approve. If I am tolerant of all faiths, and agree there are many paths to God, I am living with compassion and understanding. This kind of thinking is captive to hollow and deceptive philosophy, the kind of thinking that emanates from the mind of man rather then the mind of Christ. When mankind sets its own rules for living in an acceptable manner, those rules can be defined for self interest and self aggrandizement. The warning here is clear to look only to the creator of all things for what is true and pure and how to think and act in life. The world yells at the top of its voice demanding to be listened to. The humanistic thinking of the world screams for attention, to be the correct method of living. My God speaks in a still small voice, to the spirit within each person. I have to be diligent in this endeavor to elude those philosophies, that screaming, yet not avoiding the people who engage in that thinking, but also not allowing them and their thinking to infiltrate my thinking and belief in Christ. I should be involved with them so as I might infiltrate their thinking with the truth of God and they just might hear that small still voice.