Collisions 2:8 “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” Today's verse is a continuation of yesterday’s. Yesterday I talked about the three verses right before this one. I talked about how important it is to have a firm foundation in God’s word. I talked about how important it is to read the Bible daily. Today’s verse talks about why it is important to be well versed in God’s word. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Do Not Be Deceived
Collisions 2:8 “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.”
Today's verse is a continuation of yesterday’s. Yesterday I talked about the three verses right before this one. I talked about how important it is to have a firm foundation in God’s word. I talked about how important it is to read the Bible daily. Today’s verse talks about why it is important to be well versed in God’s word.
It says, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” If you don’t know what the Bible actually says, you can be deceived. The devil is a fallen angel. He knows what the Bible says, he watched it all happen. The devil is very tricky. He tells us things that seem like they could be true, or he tells us things that are true, but takes them out of context or twists them around.
It’s not often the the enemy tells you an outright lie. If he did you would be less likely to believe him. He also focuses on things that you may already be insecure about. Let me read you how the devil tried to deceive Jesus in Matthew 4:1-11 “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
This happened right after Jesus was baptized and God opened up Heaven and said “This is my son in which I am well pleased.” Jesus was fully God and fully human, can you see how he might have doubted his identity? He might have questioned if who He really was, or that God was really pleased in Him. So, right away the devil says, “If you are the son of God…” He will do this for us too. He will try to tell us we are not the son or daughter of God. He will try to attack our identity in many ways. He will try to make us believe you aren’t good at our job, we aren’t a good parent, we aren’t a good spouse, we aren’t a good sibling. He will take some quick doubt that passes through our mind, or some small truth and he will twist it until he has us believing his lies.
After his first attempt did not work the devil tried to attack his identity again with another Bible verse. “If you are the son of God…” He will try this with us too. Once we catch on to his plan, he will switch up his plan, but often it will still have to do with getting you to doubt your identity or doubt what God says to you or about you. In this case, the devil used exact words from the Bible, he was just using them out of context. He could do that with us too. Luckily Jesus knew scripture and was able to keep from being deceived.
Once the devil saw that Jesus knew His identity as the son of God and that wasn’t going to change, the devil tried to tempt Him to be more like God. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” He was telling Jesus he could be ruler over all the land, as far as He could see if Jesus just bowed down to worship him. Jesus recited a bible verse to satan and told him to leave. The enemy does this with us as well. He doesn’t come straight to us with this last one, he usually has others do it for him. Have you ever been offered a job that is everything you are looking for as far as money and fame or prestige are concerned, and yet it has you working so hard you never see your family? Have you ever been tempted to take a job that you know will just leave you stressed out because of the money or the location or the benefits? Have you ever compromised your values to take a job?
The enemy works in lots of different ways. He knows how important family values are, family time is and so he will use your boss, your company, a new job offer as a way to entice you away from your family. He will use your job to keep you so busy you don’t have time to think about God, you don’t have time to pray, you are too tired to go to mass on Sunday. He will use lots of things to entice your children to turn to the world instead of God as well. He will use their friends, social media, music, tv, movies, all to show them that they don’t need their parents. They don’t need God.
Do you see why it is so important to be in God’s Word every day? Do you see why it is so important to not only read, but to try and understand the Bible and what it is telling us? The more secure we are in who we are and whose we are, the more likely we will be able to recognize Satan’s lies and tell him to go away as Jesus did.
Another reason it is important to know what that Bible says is because then you can carry on a well informed conversation with those around you that don’t believe the same way you do. There are a lot of people that take the Bible out of context as well. There are a lot of people who read one line and then use that one line, out of context to try and make their point that this thing or that thing is actually ok to do. If you know what the Bible says, you can explain to them why what they are saying isn’t an accurate representation of the Lord’s Word. They may not listen, but at least you didn’t let their faulty knowledge deceive you. Also, maybe they will listen.
Imagine how great it would be if, just by knowing what the Bible says, you were able to win more souls over to the kingdom of God? Imagine if the people who are believing the enemies lies, were to learn the truth and be able to see what God is really saying, or how much God really loves them. Wouldn’t that be worth the sacrifice of a few minutes of scripture reading a day? Even if you only helped one person see the truth and join the kingdom of heaven, it would be worth it.
If you have never read that Bible before I have a few suggestions. First, I would listen to the Bible in a Year podcast, also found on YouTube, with Father Mike Schmitz. It is really good and he explains what he read so well. Second, if you are doing it on your own, don’t start at the beginning. Start in the New Testament. It starts with the Gospels and you learn all about who Jesus is and what He did during His three years of ministry. Then it goes on to talk about the early church. You can also start with Psalms if you like. If you start at the beginning of the Bible you will get bogged down with geneology and the laws and you will probably give up. There is a lot of great stuff in the old testament, you just gotta get through a few books that might not feel as interesting without the back story.
Another thing you can do is to join a Bible study. This will help you go through the Bible with other people who are also just learning. A Bible study helps you take a section of the Bible and really examine it, not just read it. There is a podcast called “Exploring my Strange Bible” by Tim Mackie. It is really good and it is like a individual Bible study. If you want to study the Bible, but don’t have a group near you, or maybe don’t have time to meet with a group, this is a great alternative. Tim Mackey is a pastor that did a bunch of sermons on various books in the Bible. He goes into great detail on what is actually being said and teaches what that means for us. I encourage you to check it out. You can search for a book of the Bible that you are interested in and start there. You don’t have to go in order.
I hope yesterday’s and today’s episodes have impressed upon you how important it is to read the Bible daily. You will be so much stronger if you do. The enemy will still try to deceive you but you will be ready and armed with the Word of God. You will have the armor of God on you and nothing is better than that.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. We ask you again to place upon our heart the desire to read your Word every single day. We ask you to place upon our hearts the desire to not only read your word, but to understand it. We ask that you equip us with all we need to see right though the enemies lies. We ask that you strengthen us for whatever might come our way. Lord, we ask that you protect our families. The enemy is working overtime to attack our families and there are so many children that are hurting. Please protect our families. Please show us how to protect our children and our marriages, because they are under attack as well. We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I want to wish you all a very merry Christmas and I look forward to spending time with you all on Monday. Remember Jesus loves you and so do I! Have a blessed weekend!