"Back to the Basics"

"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." (Colossians 2:8) There is an element to the joy which we have in our hearts that can not be measured by the world, or by the standards of this world; that element is Jesus Christ! Okay, let me try and relate this to something that we can all understand. My joy that I have in my heart is not based upon happiness, as in that which I might get from the things of this world; it is based upon the relationship that I have with the Creator of the universe, Jesus Christ. There is a very distinct difference between joy and happiness, just as there is a very distinct difference between sadness and misery. When Paul is talking about our heart being spoiled, it is the difference between what is seen and that which is unseen; because the rudiments of the world are those things by which man will naturally draw his attention to, as in an attempt to try and place a human perspective to that which cannot be explained. For example: the Law that was given by God, was not given so that man would strive to complete it; but was given that man would be lead to Christ, who is the One who fulfilled it. But man, in an attempt to place his own righteousness in the way, has placed the rudiments of this world upon himself in an effort to be justified in his own eyes in the relationship with the Law. Maybe that did not make much sense to you, but we have to understand something about what we have been given in Christ; something that can only be understood by actually resting in Christ: our righteousness was taken out of the way, because it was never there in the first place. Jesus gave us many examples of this in His teachings by saying things like, "If we have hated our brother, then we have committed murder"; because the rudiments of the Law take place in our hearts, not by the actions that are lived out in our lives. Once we can understand that it is not by our righteousness, or by man's righteousness based upon the Law, that we are made to be the righteousness of God, we can have the joy in our hearts that surpasses all understanding. If we place our focus back onto our own righteousness, then we will be doomed for failure and our joy will be lost. "For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power:" (Colossians 2:9 & 10) It is man's attempt to complete himself that spoils the joy that he has been given...