Colossians‬ ‭2‬:‭8‬ ‭ Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
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Growing up, I did not fully understand why my parents raised me the way that they did. There were parts of my childhood where I felt as though they were being too strict. The rules made me feel confined and I wanted to be “free” like my peers. Something as simple as (in the mind of a seven year old) spending the night at a friend’s house was an immediate no if my parents did not know the friend’s family well. What would once make me “huff and puff” now brings me to my knees in gratitude because I realize that my parents were being guardians not wardens. They knew that I was at an impressionable age – an age that I could not determine what was fun without proper guidance.

So here in the text, we have the writer warning the church of Colosse to not allow anyone to steer them away with false teaching. They were personally taught sound doctrine but were amongst “teachers” who pushed their philosophy as tradition. Here we are in the year of our Lord 2026, and the same teaching applies. We are not to allow the traditions of men to corrupt the house of God. This isn’t just the physical house but our temples (bodies) that also belong to God. The traditions of glorifying divorce over fruitful marriages. We can’t watch a show or open an app without someone raving about divorce rates or romanticizing a life alone. This isn’t to say that living alone is ungodly but to fear marriage or assume that all marriages will end in divorce or the couples who stay together are miserable is not the teachings of Christ. There are other traditions that glorify hustle culture that leads to burnout and exhaustion – a tradition that God never intended for us to live.

Yes, a man that refuses to work will not eat and inhabiting a slothful nature is indeed sinful. However, both ends of the spectrum are wrong. Most people who live by hustle culture bring that same type of faulty teaching into their relationship with God. Completely forfeiting unmerited favor for worldly fortune and accolades only to come up empty and constantly over achieving on this hamster wheel of success that never ends. God has called us to a life of abundance that is not filled with glamorous vacations and adventures. This life of abundance looks like His love exuding in our marriages when divorce rates are sky high. It looks like choosing to forgive when your flesh wants to keep the score and get your lick back. The world teaches us to treat others how they treat us but God says to love like He first loved us. He loved us in our mess and we still get messy sometimes as His children. So, our standard is not the same measure of this world and God be praised because if the Christians can’t be Christ-like then who will?

There are enough counterfeits acting the part. It is time for us to live what we study no matter how hard our flesh fights against it. Let the resistance be an indicator that there’s another part of our flesh that has to die. Don’t let the world’s teaching spoil the soil that was plowed to produce a garden to glorify God. Stay close to the True Vine so that the Gardner does not see a need to cut off your branches because it bears no fruit. Don’t let the fruit of this world cause you to be fruitless to God. Be blessed!