Colossians Devotional | Unclothing the Lies, Dressing in the Truth
Colossians: Christ Above and Before All
The Glory of God Revealed in Jesus
Unclothing the Lies, Dressing in the Truth
“4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.” - (Colossians 2:4-5)
Have you ever been under attack by a lie?
Perhaps a lie that’s been told about you? At work or in your family or school? Maybe you’ve been attacked by lies told to you, confusing or clouding an important issue. Under the lie, you don’t know what to do next. You don’t know who you can trust anymore.
Satan loves to confuse and throw people into chaos. He does this with lies. In fact, that’s what his name means: The Deceiver. He doesn’t want you to trust God. He doesn’t want you to understand God. He doesn’t want you to know the godly thing to do. He just wants to confuse, cloud the issue, hide the truth, and get you wandering.
The Colossians were under attack from lies, and that’s why Paul is writing to them: to undress those lies, bring them to light, and then clothe this church in the truth.
Here, briefly, are the sorts of lies the Colossians were being told:
That Jesus wasn’t God, himself, but a representation of God; he wasn’t the God-man, as he was only spirit--he only seemed to have a body.
That all physical and material things are bad--God is spirit, and therefore, only spiritual things are good; you mustn’t eat or drink or enjoy physical things; you should remove all physical pleasure in sleeping, eating, drinking, and in every other area of your life.
The world around you wasn’t made by God, but lesser, evil beings.
You need to have spiritual visions to really know God; you need to trust and follow others who have had spiritual, mystical revelations--God’s Word isn’t enough.
You need to borrow from the Greek religions, as well as the traditional Jewish one; this means you need to be circumcised, follow the Levitical laws on food, do absolutely nothing on the Sabbath, etc.
You know what’s most dangerous about these sorts of lies? To the Colossians, they sounded reasonable. Plausible. Believable. That’s the most dangerous sort of lie--the sort Satan is a master of. The CIA teaches their own spies that, if you have to lie, make as much of it truthful as possible--just twist it a liiiiiiiitle bit. It’s more believable that way.
Paul’s letter to the Colossians is an endeavor to expose the lies and make clear the truth of who Jesus is and how he redeems us. He wants us to know how God wants us to respond to him. So, the lies are dragged out, naked and ashamed, so that God’s people can be clothed in the truth--the gospel.
What’s been confusing you about God? What conflicting “truths” are causing confusion for you in your life? First, pray and ask God for help. Second, reach out to your pastor or another mature Christian brother or sister. Talk these things out and head to the Bible for the truth about God.
We don’t have to “do battle” with lies by knowing everything. We just need to drag them out, into the light and let God expose them. We need to drag ourselves out, into the light, and have the Lord show us the truth in his Word. Open your Bible and be clothed in God’s Word today.