Today's Passage - Col 2:8-10

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Colossians 2: 9-10   See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.  For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form...   Formalism is the act of following the rules and laws in the church without really understanding why.   "Human tradition" is the tradition passed down by people, and in the church there are indeed many human traditions, such as closing our eyes and hands folded together while praying, because the Bible never explicitly taught us to pray like that.  When Jesus prayed, He looked up to the sky, and in 1 Timothy Paul taught the believers to pray with their hands lifted high.  Therefore, closing our eyes and folding our hands while praying is actually a church human tradition.  We follow the practice but we may not understand that the real intention is for us to focus solely on the Lord.   Church also has many rules that forbid us from doing certain things.  Back when I was in high school, the church warned youngsters against playing guitar, dancing and even wearing jeans because they are disrespectful.  We often followed the rules with disgruntle, but never really understood that these rules were good for the young people because of the social circumstance, for they helped to keep our hearts respectful for God.   Legalism is, on the other hand, to turn the formality that we grew accustomed to following into law and force others to follow them.  The "hollow and deception philosophy" mentioned here is the law created by people, and this is a common phenomenon in the church.  For example, a person started to get up at six in the morning to do devotion and felt that their spirituality grew, and therefore firmly believed that it is the path to spiritual revival.  The person promoted it at church to encourage everyone to get up at six to worship, do devotions and pray, making it seem like the only way to grow spiritually that everyone ought to follow.  Those who were able to do it were then considered more spiritual, while those who could not do it were failures.  Waking up for devotions in the morning is a great thing; however, but once it becomes a law that everyone needs to follow, it turns into a self-righteous practice of legalism.   Do the rules and law make us spiritual?  Jesus Christ is the only source of our spiritual growth.  Are you also living in the bondage of formalism and legalism?  May the spirit of God examine us, so that we may be released from the state of self-righteousness, and thus have true freedom in the spirit.    Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord Jesus, please examine my heart and release me if I am still in the bondage of formalism and legalism.  Set my heart free, and help me to focus my eyes on you.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!