Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
Colossians 2:18,19
The idea of delight is a really attractive one. It’s almost addictive. We have this desire inside of us to delight in something. We have this craving to delight in someone. And more importantly, we want others to delight in us.
Funny thing about delighting, you don’t have to watch a YouTube or TikTok video to know that you want to experience delight. You don’t have to attend any class or seminar to experience that deep desire of delight. It’s already baked into who we are. We’re hardwired to want delight. Whenever you delight in anyone or anything, you move them up on your priorities of what’s important. They’re lifted up on your internal list of what’s most significant and valuable. When you delight in something, it’s the very first thing you want. It’s who you’re going to take care of before anyone else.
In the movie, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Edmond’s sitting with the White Witch and she’s manipulating him. She’s trying to use him to capture and kill his sisters and brother. As a bribe, she offers him anything he wants. It’s no accident that he asks for Turkish Delights[1]. And when she gives it to him, he’s hooked.
There’s all sorts of people and ideas that are out there with the goal of looking for your delights. And once they find out what it is, they’ll do anything to use it for their benefit. It’s clear that our delights are the door to controlling us.
They usually don’t start with a direct attack. Normally, they start nibbling around the edges of our life. Slowly but surely worming their way in. Whispering lies so small that we’re willing to just let it slide. But eventually, their goal is to use our delights to destroy us. And what’s the two things that Paul warns the Colossians to not delight in? It might sound like an odd combination, like salted caramel, but false humility and the worship of angels are to be avoided at all costs.
· False Humility – now there’s humility and then there’s false humility. After all, Paul told the Philippians to do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility value others above yourselves[2]. True humility doesn’t have a hidden agenda. True humility only wants the best for the other person. False humility is nothing more than bait on a hook or in a trap. False humility only want to catch and capture someone else for selfish gains and motives.Think about this for a minute. Paul says that delighting in false humility is just as bad as false worship. Using humility just to make us feel guilty, to play on our emotions, has only one goal. To get us to bow down to someone, something other than God.
· Worship of Angles – This sounds a bit weird to us. After all, most people don’t fall down and worship angels. Or do they? While our family and friends might not physically bow down to a statue of an angel, there are plenty of things and people that are trying to distract us from bowing down and worshiping God himself. Anything that tries to move our attention and adoration from the God who made us, who loves us, want to move our worship.
What are the things that are trying to draw our attention away from our great God and Heavenly Father? What’s sucking up our time, attention, and energies from worshiping the God who died for us?
It’s important to remember that these are not necessarily really evil things. There are many good things that we try to make them into a God thing. And that’s a bad thing. We take the gifts from God and use them to take our attention off the giver. The result is absolutely devastating. The fruit, the harvest from false humility and worshiping angles is to be disqualified. The enemy rejoices and steps on us like a bug. We get tripped up and fall flat on our faces.
Remember the last time you tripped and fell? You tried to put your hands out to stop from falling. But you couldn’t. The only thing that happened was that your skin was ripped off as you hit the ground. Once you trip, you’re headed for a fall and there’s nothing on earth that you can do about it. God desperately wants us to be strong in him and his mighty power[3]. And after we’ve done everything else, what does God want us to do? To stand[4]. Not to trip and fall, but to stand. And that standing only happens with and in him.
Right now, I bet your mind is racing a mile a minute, thinking about the dangerous delights in your life. Those good things that are distracting you from the best thing. God himself. Right now is the time to turn away from your dangerous delight and turn towards the God who loves you. Made you. Died for you. He alone satisfies the great longing of your heart and soul.
Noodling Questions
How do you tell false humility from the genuine thing?
What are the things/people trying to take our attention off of worshiping God?
What’s stopping you from giving God more and more of your life? Why?
[2] Philippians 2:3
[3] Ephesians 6:10
[4] Ephesians 6:13
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