Be On Your Guard

“ You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”?” Col.2:20-21

“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” Col.2:18. Interestingly, we can relate to the issues that faced the church in Colossae in the church today. These are the same issues we have to deal with. Five of such issues were enumerated in Colossians 2.

The first issue the church in Colossae and Christians today sometimes struggle with is Downgrading Christ. Downgrading Christ is not total denial but not holding Christ as supreme. It is so subtle and dangerous. Its aim is not to get you to deny Christ but just to water down Christ. Every Christian, and not just the church in Colossae, will struggle with this. We face this on almost a daily basis, yes Jesus but… There is no ‘but’ after Jesus, it is Jesus full stop. When we started as a church [God’s Favorite House] a very nice man told me he was giving us a piece of land. For a new church, we thought that was good news. So we rejoiced and danced and did all the things Christians do when they get a breakthrough. Then I preached a sermon on Jesus saying I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me. I did not come up with that on my own Jesus said it Himself. So this very nice man came to my house and said I think you should slow down on this Jesus thing. In retrospect, I know I am not where I need to be yet but those responses show me that I am not where I used to be. I mustard all the sincerity I could muster and said when you remove Christ from our message we become just another social gathering. Jesus is at the center of everything we are, everything we do, and everything we will be. I told him I like him a lot because he has been very gracious to my wife and I. I said if he had told me to wear only white shirts on Sundays I probably would consider it and I meant it because that is how much I like this man. I said but Jesus is untouchable and that is not up for discussion. I warned him never to bring up the subject up again. Then he got up and took the land that he gave the church and left the church. It was a tough time for us as a church. I said to the leaders in church, the last time I checked the earth is still the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein, for He founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods. And when the time came God gave us our own land. I am sharing this to let you know that even Pastors are not immune from temptation; everybody will have an opportunity to downgrade Christ.

Prayer: Spirit of the Living God, for every opportunity that the enemy bring for me to downgrade Christ, help me stand for Him twice as strong, in Jesus Name.