Unrivalled: Christ the Ultimate InfluencerSýnishorn

Day 7: Died to False Spirituality

Those of us who grew up listening to songs from the 2000s might be familiar with the band Coldplay. A line in one of their songs goes, “When you try your best, but you don't succeed, when you get what you want, but not what you need.” Some of us have experiences that resonate with this, where we feel let down by the outcome of something we’ve put hard work into, and we are left wondering what really went wrong.

The false teachings spreading within the Colossian church had blindsided and misled the church to believe that true spirituality could be obtained through religious practices and rigidly observing religious events. Paul called them out for boasting about their external spiritual practices instead of inwardly submitting to Christ. By falling victim to these false teachings, the Colossians would not experience the freedom that came at the cost of Christ’s death on the cross. Such false practices and regulations, no matter the extent of self-denying or effort required, fools them into thinking they have a genuine relationship with Christ.

Christ’s death and work on the cross have effectively dealt with human sinfulness. As such, we no longer need to rely on our feeble efforts to achieve moral behaviour or obey rigorous rules, hoping they can put us in a good position before God. We need to hold fast to Christ and humbly yield to His work in our lives. After all, true spirituality is not something we can manufacture by willing ourselves to display the right behaviour, but something that only the work of the Spirit can produce in us.

Today, we need to ask ourselves whether our outward practices and religious activities are truly drawing us closer to Christ. Or are they more to convince others and ourselves that we are more spiritual than we really are? Let us then ask God to reveal the heart behind our actions and call out any deceit that hinders our pursuit of Christ. At the same time, we can reflect on whether we have compared ourselves to other brothers and sisters and passed judgement on them simply based on what we see.

Prayer Points

• Ask the Lord to show you if your Christian practices are mere routines or an overflow of your living relationship with the Lord. This is not an exercise to condemn ourselves but an exercise to keep our relationship with Jesus healthy and thriving.
• Ask the Lord to burn your hearts with His fire. We want to love the Lord wholeheartedly. We want to be genuinely passionate about the things of God. We want to have a living and thriving relationship with God. May our hearts be hearts on fire for Jesus, His truths, His people, and His purposes!