2 passages

I've got 2 passages to look at.

The first is from Paul's letter to the followers of Jesus in Colossae.

It has some VERY important thoughts about our identity as followers of Jesus & what it means to connect with God thru Jesus.

Colossians 2

6 And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him.

7 Let your roots grow down into him,

and let your lives be built on him.

Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught,

and you will overflow with thankfulness.

  8 Don't let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers* of this world, rather than from Christ.

9 For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.

10 So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

  11 When you came to Christ, you were "circumcised," but not by a physical procedure.

Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature.

12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized.

And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God,

who raised Christ from the dead.
 

 13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away.

Then God made you alive with Christ,

for he forgave all our sins.

14 He canceled the record of the charges against us

and took it away by nailing it to the cross.

15 In this way, he disarmed* the spiritual rulers and authorities.

He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

  16 So don't let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths.

17 For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come.

And Christ himself is that reality.

18 Don't let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things.

Their sinful minds have made them proud,

19 and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body.

For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments,

and it grows as God nourishes it.

  20 You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world.

So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as,21 "Don't handle! Don't taste! Don't touch!"?

22 Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them.

23 These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline.

But they provide no help in conquering a person's evil desires.

* * * * * * * *

Read this next passage VERY carefully.

It tell us what God finds most important.

It may be surprising what the psalmist says in important.

Psalm 50

7 "O my people, listen as I speak.

  Here are my charges against you, O Israel:

  I am God, your God!

8 I have no complaint about your sacrifices or the burnt offerings you constantly offer.

9 But I do not need the bulls from your barns or the goats from your pens.

10 For all the animals of the forest are mine,

  and I own the cattle on a thousand hills.

11 I know every bird on the mountains,

  and all the animals of the field are mine.

12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you,

  for all the world is mine and everything in it.

13 Do I eat the meat of bulls?

  Do I drink the blood of goats?

14 Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God,

  and keep the vows you made to the Most High.

15 Then call on me when you are in trouble,

  and I will rescue you,

  and you will give me glory."


23 But giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me.

  If you keep to my path,

  I will reveal to you the salvation of God."