Taken Captive

Here is a question worthy of attention. Can committed Christian believers be taken captive by the forces of evil? The short answer is, yes they can. That is what Paul teaches in The second and third chapters of his letter to the Colossian church. It happens when we do not literally and intentionally "put off the body of flesh."

The question is, how? The way of the world is to be dependent on things that we can manipulate and control...touch, feel and perceive with our sin-limited intellect. All of these are human constructs opposed to those things which Paul identifies in 2:2 as "according to Christ".

He lists 4 things to which we, in our brokenness often default. They are: 1. "philosophy"...or that which we believe we can figure out by observing the past exploits of humanity; 2. "empty deceit", or that which we chose to believe because it is easy or convenient and we are too lazy to do the work necessary to determine its truth or efficacy; 3. "human tradition...or automatic compliance...that which we have "always done" and are too lazy to assess because we just don't want to change; 4. "according to the elemental spirits of the world", which is just a long winded way of identifying behaviour that is carried out in willing and intentional obedience to the demonic.

I have deliberately used the word "lazy" twice because I believe that this is the primary cause of captivity to sin. We humans search for and willingly take the path of least resistance, least effort,most "safe", and that which we believe will bring the greatest immediate satisfaction. All of these are deliberate traps set by the servants of Satan designed to capture and hold people in bondage to sin.

The frightening part is that this phenomena is common in religious communities. Paul describes it as "self-made religion and asceticism" or "indulgence of the flesh". However, it doesn't need to be that way. When Christ died on the cross for our sins, the power of self-indulgence, the power of demonic rulers and authorities, of human based philosophy and human tradition were destroyed.

Notice that I said "the power of". These things still exist as temptations and destinations of our sin, but according to the scripture, they no longer have the ultimate power to take and hold us captive. For those of us who choose instead to "abide" in Christ, the sacrifice of Jesus has provided us the power to triumph over the sin and death that those things brought . We cannot be held in bondage. Alleluia!

Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry