Here’s a comment I got from a friend, I think that I should share my answer (or rather, my thoughts) on here since it has something to do with some entries I wrote ealier. Here’s the comment:
Hey, I was reading these verses this morning...Colossians 2:20-23. I don't know why they made me think of your blog. Maybe it was the part you wrote about "beating your body" to make it a slave of Christ. Verse 23 says:"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." I'm not sure what an example of such regulations would be, Paul calls them human rules. But it was interesting, because apparently, some kinds of discipline, though they may appear wise, actually don't help us resist giving in to temptation. What do you think?
I remember reading this verse and ask myself if discipline and regulations and etc. were doing me any good. But I never really took the time to deepen my thought about it, so now I must.
In this passage, Paul is says that since we were made alive with Christ, having our sins forgiven and since God cancelled the written code, with its regulations, we shouldn’t let anyone judge us on the basis of what we eat, drink and the way we celebrate or not certain events. Paul says that since we are dead to the basic principles of this world we should not submit to its rules “Do not taste! Do not handle! Do not touch!” then verse 23 comes here.
So what I understand is that since we were purified from our sins and since the written code and its regulations (probably the law or as the NLT says “record of the charges against us”) were cancelled, we should not think that we must continue to live as we used to when we were still dead in our sins, trying to please God by our acts of righteousness. The difference is that before knowing Christ we disciplined ourselves, our bodies to say no to different things in order to stay in line with God’s commands, it’s mere obedience, outward obedience. But when we come to Christ, our sins are truly forgiven once and for all and it’s useless to try to live by these “human rules” again because Christ is our righteousness, we do not try to earn it anymore.
So if we, as children of God, saved by faith in the grace found in Jesus, strive to “beat our body and make it our slave” in the same way, with the same attitude we once had, then I’d say, “Man, you need to sit down and remember your salvation, that now you were purified, only by Jesus’ blood, nothing else. You don’t need to seek to appease God or etc. anymore with your own efforts, Jesus did that for you.”
To try to be self-controlled and godly and follow all kinds of rules that are good, with a heart that is simply proud for being so “spiritual”, or secretly desiring to be “more loved” by God or be forgiven for some sins is totally wrong. First because it goes against the faith that God requires for salvation, and second, as Paul says “… they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence” (v.23) NLT says “… they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires” Louis Second says “… ils sont sans aucun mérite et contribuent à la satisfaction de la chair”. So basically, doing all sorts of godly things with the attitude of the “unsaved” person, is only an outward “godliness”, the heart is powerless to conquer its evil desires, because its attitude is not renewed by the Spirit of God, because the purpose we have in obeying different rules is to give ourselves a better image, in front of people, in front of God.
The attitude of a child of God should basically be “I was saved by the grace of God alone, I was totally lost and He freely gave me the righteousness I needed but could never find by myself, I deserve nothing from Him at all, and because of all He has done for me, I want to seek to walk in a way that pleases Him, I will obey Him” As it is written somewhere in the New Testament I can’t find right now, that we were saved in order to do good works, not the other way around.
So I still believe it’s important and expected by God for us to discipline ourselves to do all we can to come closer to Him, to obey Him with all our hearts. It doesn’t mean that the mere actions of devotions will bring us closer to Him and help us conquer temptation and make us truly godly, but it’s in our heart’s attitude of total trust in God and deep desire to know Him and obey Him because of His great love and salvation for us.
Let us not forget these verses “Be imitators of God (Eph. 5:1); Find out what pleases the Lord (Eph 5:10); Devote yourselves to prayer (Col 4:2); Let us be alert and self-controlled (I Thess. 5:6); Never tire of doing what is right (II Thess 3:13); Train yourself to be godly (I Tim 4:7); Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness (I Tim 6:11); Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good (Titus 3:14)
“For the grace of God that brings salvation teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope – the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good. (Titus 2:11-14)
So these are my thoughts for right now. I don’t know if I answered the question in a satisfying way. Please let me know your thoughts about that. Leave a comment or email me gabeleroux@yahoo.ca
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