STAYING CONNECTED WITH GOD

Colossians 2:18-23

In this scripture, Paul was describing some characteristics of false teachers and their methods of leading people away from the truth. Paul pointed out that false teachers had lost connection with God, and became puffed up with idle notions in their “unspiritual” minds. Some of their idle notions involved angel worship, false humility, religious regulations, self-imposed worship and harsh treatment of the body.   

Today more than ever, the children of God have to be wary about the many deceptive doctrines being taught under the guise of Christianity. Such false doctrines are traps that bring people into bondage. The key for avoiding such traps is to stay connected with God, so that we can correctly discern truth and lies. The moment we allow something to come between God and us, we’re opening the door for deception to fill our minds.  

Lust after the flesh is one of the obvious things that cause a rift between God and us. Jesus explained that lusting after a person is the same as having sex with them (Matthew 5:28). When we fill our minds with pornographic images and fantasize about them, we are committing sexual sin. Doing so dulls our conscience and opens the door to all kinds of evil, including homosexuality and other perversions. Things that we used to identify as clearly sinful may start to seem acceptable to us, and before long we’ll be openly defending our sin habit as acceptable.   

If you feel that you have strayed from God and are no longer in touch with him, I encourage you to return to him today. The steps to returning to him involve confessing and turning away from the sin you’ve been tolerating in your life, asking God to help you reconnect with him and spending time with him each day. Have you been tolerating a “pet sin” in your life?