Remember This

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. Colossians 2:8

For the longest time I really believed having more money would solve all my problems. That conviction drove me through college, it drove me to work crazy hours at my job, it drove my decisions to relocate my family multiple times. I was (I thought) on the road to being handsome, smart, and rich…
One day I was having a conversation with my boss – a guy who I believed had everything I wanted – the job, the house, the money. As we talked he said these words, “I am a financial prisoner of this company and this job. I am resigned to being a prisoner.”

His words shook me. I thought “How can you be so unhappy when you have so much?” Over the following months I began to notice how often Scripture warns about the empty and exhausting life of the person devoted to pursuing worldly things. Somewhere in that season I began to ask myself why I was so convinced there was joy and hope in the pursuit of something the Bible repeatedly teaches contains no hope. I had been taken captive and I was working really hard to build the cage I was going to live in, just like my boss.
I read this verse with new eyes:
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. Colossians 2:8

This verse begs a question you should learn to ask yourself continually about everything you believe, “Why do you believe that?” Why do you believe what you believe about church, about money, about marriage, about work, about sex, about how you speak, how you look? Is what you believe transformed (or being transformed) by gospel of Jesus or are you captive to the transient and fleshly wisdom of the culture? Are you letting what you see in the mirror and on the pages of magazines teach you more about yourself that what you see in the Bible? Do you sift the recommendations and opinions of your friends through the filter of God’s Word or does their influence have you captive?

It is a down and dirty every day, every thought kind of question, “Why do I believe that?”

In Christ there is freedom. Freedom from the grind of religious obligation and freedom from the prison chains forged by the relentless pursuit of things and comfort that over consume our time and our resources and leave us with full garages and empty souls. See to it that no one takes you captive!