DAY 4 — Thursday
Day Four: Thursday
Read Colossians 2:16-19
"These rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality." (2:17)
Paul gives two commands in this section, and they're both protective.
Verse sixteen: don't let anyone condemn you.
Verse eighteen: don't let anyone disqualify you.
Somebody in that church had appointed themselves the referee. They were grading everyone else's spiritual life by what people ate, what days they observed, what experiences they'd had.
And Paul's response is a picture I can't get out of my head.
He calls all of it a shadow.
Now here's what's beautiful about that word choice. A shadow is not a lie. A shadow is real. In fact a shadow is proof that something solid is standing there in the light. You can trace its outline. You can tell a lot about a thing from its shadow.
But you cannot eat a shadow. You cannot lean on one. You cannot hold a shadow when your world falls apart.
All those practices were real. God gave many of them. They outlined something true. But they were never the thing itself.
"Christ himself is that reality."
And I have to say honestly, this is where I get caught. Not with festivals and food laws. My shadows are more modern than that.
Reading plans. Worship playlists. Podcasts. How consistently I show up. How I pray, and whether it sounded any good.
Every one of those things is genuinely good. Every one of them can quietly become the point.
And you can tell when it's happened, because of what Paul says next. When we fall in love with a shadow, two things start happening.
We start measuring other people by it. Whatever my practice is becomes the ruler I hold up to everyone else. And I don't usually say it out loud. I just quietly file people into serious and not serious.
And we start getting measured by somebody else's. Somebody who loves a different shadow decides you don't make the cut.
Look closely at verse eighteen and you'll see the strangest part of all this. Paul describes these people as insisting on pious self-denial, and then says they are puffed up with pride.
Which is it? Humble or proud?
Both. That's the trap. This kind of religion looks like humility on the outside and is running on pride underneath. It's the most respectable sin in the room, and it never once feels like sin while you're doing it.
Then comes verse nineteen, and it lands like a diagnosis: "they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body."
There it is again. Every single time in this chapter, the problem is the same. Not effort. Connection.
So hear this today, especially if somebody in your life has made you feel like you don't measure up spiritually.
Nobody gets to disqualify you. That's not their call. They don't have the authority, and the one who does has already ruled in your favor.
Now hear the difference, because it matters. Paul isn't saying nobody can ever speak into your life. A friend who loves you enough to tell you the truth is a gift, and we should want more of that, not less. He's saying nobody gets to decide whether you're in.
Sit with this: What good practice have I let become the point? And be honest... who am I quietly grading by my own shadow?
Pray: Jesus, I don't want to settle for the outline when I could have you. Free me from needing to measure people. And free me from believing anyone but you gets to decide if I'm in.
Read Colossians 2:16-19
"These rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality." (2:17)
Paul gives two commands in this section, and they're both protective.
Verse sixteen: don't let anyone condemn you.
Verse eighteen: don't let anyone disqualify you.
Somebody in that church had appointed themselves the referee. They were grading everyone else's spiritual life by what people ate, what days they observed, what experiences they'd had.
And Paul's response is a picture I can't get out of my head.
He calls all of it a shadow.
Now here's what's beautiful about that word choice. A shadow is not a lie. A shadow is real. In fact a shadow is proof that something solid is standing there in the light. You can trace its outline. You can tell a lot about a thing from its shadow.
But you cannot eat a shadow. You cannot lean on one. You cannot hold a shadow when your world falls apart.
All those practices were real. God gave many of them. They outlined something true. But they were never the thing itself.
"Christ himself is that reality."
And I have to say honestly, this is where I get caught. Not with festivals and food laws. My shadows are more modern than that.
Reading plans. Worship playlists. Podcasts. How consistently I show up. How I pray, and whether it sounded any good.
Every one of those things is genuinely good. Every one of them can quietly become the point.
And you can tell when it's happened, because of what Paul says next. When we fall in love with a shadow, two things start happening.
We start measuring other people by it. Whatever my practice is becomes the ruler I hold up to everyone else. And I don't usually say it out loud. I just quietly file people into serious and not serious.
And we start getting measured by somebody else's. Somebody who loves a different shadow decides you don't make the cut.
Look closely at verse eighteen and you'll see the strangest part of all this. Paul describes these people as insisting on pious self-denial, and then says they are puffed up with pride.
Which is it? Humble or proud?
Both. That's the trap. This kind of religion looks like humility on the outside and is running on pride underneath. It's the most respectable sin in the room, and it never once feels like sin while you're doing it.
Then comes verse nineteen, and it lands like a diagnosis: "they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body."
There it is again. Every single time in this chapter, the problem is the same. Not effort. Connection.
So hear this today, especially if somebody in your life has made you feel like you don't measure up spiritually.
Nobody gets to disqualify you. That's not their call. They don't have the authority, and the one who does has already ruled in your favor.
Now hear the difference, because it matters. Paul isn't saying nobody can ever speak into your life. A friend who loves you enough to tell you the truth is a gift, and we should want more of that, not less. He's saying nobody gets to decide whether you're in.
Sit with this: What good practice have I let become the point? And be honest... who am I quietly grading by my own shadow?
Pray: Jesus, I don't want to settle for the outline when I could have you. Free me from needing to measure people. And free me from believing anyone but you gets to decide if I'm in.
Posted in Daily Devotional