These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
Colossians 2:22,23
We all have destinations. From the moment we wake up, our lives move from one destination. Put on clothes. Clean coffee pot. Let the dog out. Make coffee. Turn on the TV. Drink coffee. Check email. Drink more coffee. Check social media. Make more coffee.
Each one of those things is a destination. There’s a goal. There’s a place to go. Tasks to do. Something to be accomplished. One way to look at our daily lives is that it’s a series of destinations. One destination after another until we lay down to sleep. Think about life for a moment. All you have to do is use something for it to wear out. To get old. To get weak. It seems like all you have to do is nothing and things age. They become fragile. And then for the great finale, it breaks. It dies.
Remember the last time you went out to start your car and – nothing? Maybe the lights didn’t come on when you opened the door. Maybe there was only some clicking when you tried to start the car. Maybe there was just silence as you pressed the start button or turned the key.
Now I don’t mean to be mean, but what did you do to stop your car from starting? I’ll tell you what – nothing. The battery just wore out. Got old. It wouldn’t hold a charge. The result is that it left you high and dry without a way forward.
And Pau’s saying the exact same thing about religious rules and rituals. They all have a destination. They will perish. They will end. They will go away. They will all fail. They will all break. They are destined to be destroyed. In The Chosen, we see Jesus talking to the woman at the well[1]. Isn’t he saying the exact same thing?
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
John 4:23
Doesn’t that sound good? No more striving to try and please God. No more looking at God like he’s a boss that just can’t be pleased. No more ducking, thinking that God’s looking for any opportunity or excuse to smack you upside the head.
I used to think and live like that. I thought God was mad. Mad at me. Mad at my family. Mad at the world. And I lived in fear. Fear that God wanted to use his heavenly wooden spoon and smack my knuckles at every opportunity. The only reason he paid so much attention on me was to find each and every opportunity to punish me.
And that’s what I deserve. That’s what you deserve. That’s what we all deserve. Our words, thoughts, actions, and attitudes against our holy creator God needed to be paid for. But instead of us getting the punishment we deserved, God did something about it.
“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
1 Peter 2:24
God stepped in and paid for all our sins. Past. Present. Future. And that’s a wonderful thing. But it doesn’t end there. We’re not just to passively receive this great salvation and then move on with our lives. Oh no.
In thankful gratitude, we’re to lovingly respond, worshiping and adoring the God who saved us. We’re to sing praise to the God of creation. Not trying to repay him or earn his love. But out of a heart of love for the God of all eternity who left leaven for our salvation.
And that salvation spills over onto how we treat people. Instead of looking at them as problems that are in our way, we see them as someone who Jesus died for. That makes them incredibly and eternally valuable.
If God was willing to die for us and them, then we should be willing to love and serve them. Not out of any guilt trip but in response to God’s amazing love for us and them. Treating people well will naturally become job-one in our lives.
No matter what they are, all these religious rituals are going to stop. All the rules that people followed in the first century when Paul wrote these words are gone. They’re all dead. They were a dead-end street.
So, let’s turn away from the dead and towards our living and loving God. Towards the purpose that he has for us in Jesus. He’s our ultimate destination. Out highest purpose. The one who fills us with forgiveness from him. The one who give us overflowing lovingkindness towards others. Now that’s a destination worth living for.
Noodling Questions
Describe your destination for this life.
Explain what happened the last time you thought God was mad at you.
Why is it so hard to turn towards our living and loving God?
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