My favorite homeschooling outfit is a warm pair of long blue socks, pulled up to my knees, where they joyfully meet my short sweatpants, combining for an overall effect that my husband calls, “The Francis Schaeffer Look.” If your beauty doesn’t spark in your husband’s mind a comparison to modern Christian apologist and enthusiastic knicker-wearer Francis Schaeffer, is the flame even still burning in your marriage?
Really, I’m not in bad company. Schaeffer famously argued, “Regardless of a man’s system, he has to live in God’s world.” It can be a tricky thing, living in this world, don’t you think? We are tempted to act like we’re in charge here—like we’re running the show and the whole world belongs to us. It doesn’t. This is God’s world, and we are here to glorify Him.
This world tells us to work harder and be smarter, to say all the right things at just the right time, to wear fashionable hosiery (something other than, say, blue knee-high socks). We can attempt to apply this system to our faith, to try to do more to make ourselves just a little more worthy of God. But this is treating the world as ours, to be managed and regulated as we humans think it ought to be run.
This is the lie some Colossians were being persuaded to believe. Paul’s rebuke in this letter against legalism, righteousness by works, self-made religion and asceticism was speaking against the false teachers in Colossae who had forgotten the true gospel, that Christ alone is our justifier (Colossians 1:12–23, Romans 3:26). “Therefore,” Paul instructs, “don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day,” or any other regulation (Colossians 2:16).
You can almost hear Paul’s frustration, “If you died with Christ to the elements of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: ‘Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch’?” (vv.20–21). Instead of trying to follow the world’s instructions, we are called to pursue the Lord, and seek what He loves. Jesus promises wisdom from above, and the fruit of His wisdom “is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without pretense. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace” (James 3:17–18).
Paul reminds us there is true freedom in this: We belong to Christ. While we live in this fallen world in need of grace, we belong to another King and His kingdom. We can be free of the tyranny of the rules of this world, by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
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52 thoughts on "Warning Against False Teaching"
Happy Friday she’s.
I sensed some confusion after reading today’s devotional and the corresponding scriptures, and then got confirmed through some of your comments. God doesn’t call us to judge. BUT… He calls us to discern. So these are not the same, but can be similar. God will judge. But it’s us who have to discern what’s acceptable, good and perfect will of God, study to show ourselves approved unto God, a workman need not to be ashamed, rightly divide the word of truth. Yes to study the word. Especially rightly divide the words that are full of grace, but void of truth!!! Beware in this hour, so many of those type of words. Lord Jesus comes with grace and truth. Some of us might have to exercise the wisdom that young Solomon had to do, in order to discern who the real mom of the baby is, who will let the baby live, and who is the counterfeit one, they act like one who wants to guard over the child, make a fuss, take it to court, fight over custody, but in a blink of an eye, when wisdom is exercised, discernment is achieved, the counterfeit is also willing to let that baby be cut in half ( division will bring death), and that counterfeit is a liar and a murderer, just like satan, the father of all lies. Love will be the sign. Love is the highest form of warfare we can fight back. Return love for evil. Who is the baby in this hour? (I’m saying something without saying something, not ruffling feathers, I hope). Who has the love for this child and does their best to save and rescue this child in this hour? Who is fighting for the life of this child? The devil is hiding in plain sight. May the Lord give us wisdom to discern and discern. Don’t judge, but please do your best to discern. You can always pray to the Lord for the spirit of discerning of spirits, the spirits that operate behind questionable things, people. How much more does our Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask? Be bold, and don’t dim your light. Remember the righteous are as bold as the lions. Don’t be afraid. Be bold and very courageous, the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Also, Be innocent as doves, wise as serpents, and again, bold as lions. With God it’s possible to embody all those godly attributes. I love the Lord, and the goodness He wishes upon His kids. Lay down the pride, lay down the moral superiority, don’t get caught up in the emotions of the narratives of divisions. Something I learnt from a Bible study called God’s mercies of Courtney Doctor, she asked these questions, related to self righteousness, yesterday’s read, have you ever felt pride because you walked with the Lord for a while? And perhaps you know where to flip the Bible to find Habakkuk or Philemon? have you ever felt pride because your parents help build the church that you now worship in? do you think your spiritual heritage and religious resume makes you more pleasing to God? What about pride over knowing the right answer to Bible trivia question? Yes? Paul did too..yet he counted it all as nothing. I love that. Cast your crown to the feet of the Cross. Take no credit. Treat your neighbors as yourself, at times we give ourselves abundant grace, and can be stingy with grace for others. May the Lord help us. By grace and truth. Again, grace and truth need to go together. I am up late tonight reading, and i love it. Praise the Lord for His love and wisdom. Seek Him and His righteousness first and always. Be blessed dear sisters. Night night.
Another note re yesterday’s topic about not being taken captive.
2 Corinthians 10:5 tells us (in some versions) to take every thought captive. Again, I can’t copy and paste that version on my phone, but I have my NLT Bible here. It says in verses 4-5:”We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.”
That actually goes well with today’s reading! ❤
❤️❤️
My take on the Scriptures here and the quedtions asked: the new church was reeling from the inclusion of Gentiles which brought about a strong reaction from the Jewish believers who want to force laws, rituals, and customs onto the newly accepted believers. I can imagine it was hard to see GRACE enacted knowing they had always focused on the law. Hence, false teaching. I don’t believe these verses are referring to the type of things dividing our churches today: acceptance of sinful lifestyles, those plainly noted in Scripture. I hope that makes sense!
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I want to share again the song by Cindy Morgan: “Do You Know Jesus”
I am on my lhkne so I won’t try to copy and paste lyrics.
Blessings to each of you sweet sisters! ❤
Yes, sister Shes, living in this world is tricky. ‘Cuz’ we can get hit with a ton of #$&%@!?
I appreciate what Rev. Tim Keller once wrote
…”look for the thing, beyond the thing, God is doing”.
There’s an out working taking place beyond our ability or imagination. If we remain calm & let Him do the heavy stuff.
Of justifying. Saving. Taking care of busy-ness.
Regardless of our self image or interest.
For He alone runs the world.
“If you died with Christ to the elements of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world?
This is the struggle! I think will people who know my past judge me?? I shouldn’t care, but I don’t feel that it will bring people to Christ. Most know where my faith layes. But I can get caught up depending on who I’m with sometimes. I pray for conviction and God does give it. I want to be aware of when I’m living in the world and not for Christ.
The reading brings to mund the song by Phil Wickam “The Jesus Way!”
If you curse me, then I will bless you
If you hurt me, I will forgive
And if you hate me, then I will love you
I choose the Jesus way
If you’re helpless, I will defend you
And if you’re burdened, I’ll share the weight
And if you’re hopeless, then let me show you
There’s hope in the Jesus way
I follow Jesus
I follow Jesus
He wore my sin, I’ll gladly wear His name
He is the treasure
He is the answer
Oh, I choose the Jesus way
If you strike me, I will embrace you
And if you chain me, I’ll sing His praise
And if you kill me, my home is heaven
For I choose the Jesus way
I follow Jesus
I follow Jesus
He wore my sin, I’ll gladly wear His name
He is the treasure
He is the answer
Oh, I choose the Jesus way
And I choose surrender
I choose to love
Oh, God my Savior, You’ll always be enough
I choose forgiveness
I choose grace
I choose to worship, no matter what I face
I choose the Jesus way
I choose the Jesus way
I choose the Jesus way
I choose the Jesus way
I follow Jesus
I follow Jesus
He wore my sin, I’ll gladly wear His name
He is the treasure
He is the answer
Oh, I choose the Jesus way
I follow Jesus
I follow Jesus
He wore my sin, I’ll gladly wear His name
He is the treasure
He is the answer
Oh, I choose the Jesus way
Oh, I choose the Jesus way
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Jonathan Smith / Phil Wickham
We don’t belong to this world
Maybe I’m missing something but what I took from reading today was I need to worry about how I live my life in Christ not to judge others. Online in such a way as to not cause anyone to stumble but to not let be deceived by false doctrine or legalism. I think if this verse
I grew up in a denomination that believed they were the only “true” church. Everyone else was in error. We had rules like no alcohol, no movies, no dancing, no card playing. And I looked down on other “Christians” if they belonged to different denominations. Not until years later when I was involved in more ecumenical activities did I realize that most denominations believe the important stuff, and the differences are very small. I judged my fellow Christians, and I was wrong. We have to let other Christians be convicted of things when God does the convicting. We need to let people alone. There are truths in the Word that we all must follow, but there are many “truths” that we people put on ourselves and others that are not even “truths” at all. So, live the life God has called you to live, and let other live the life God has called them to live.
This speaks to me, Kris…”alive in Christ; dead to sin”!
I am a child of the MOST HIGH KING! Yes I am! Yes YOU are dear sweet She’s!! Don’t let ANYONE tell us different! Yep, this world will fail us, I remind myself we live in a fallen world with fallen people. I’m one of them! BUT OUR GOD will never fail us! NOW, that’s OUR God!!! I love you all SO much and can’t wait to meet you all someday! Happy Friday sweet She’s!
Who are you to judge another’s household servant? Before his own Lord he stands or falls (Romans 14:4). Powerful reminder to me this morning that I already can tell I won’t be able to shake. Blessings to you ladies and praying for requests.
Loved the last part of the commentary “We can be free of the tyranny of the rules of this world, by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.” This is not our home, and Jesus taught an upside down kingdom. That is what we follow and Jesus is who we follow; but while we are here may we make the most of our time by appreciating under Jesus and share the good news to all in love, grace and mercy that we have been graciously given! ❤️
Why do we live as if we still belonged to the world?
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Ouch.
So good! ❤️❤️❤️
May I seek Jesus and keep my mind focused on Him. ❤️ Help me to remember You are in control of this world and are Creator of the world with God the Father. Praying for all affected by Hurricane Helene. One week ago Hurricane Helene came through my town and state leaving destruction in its path. God is good as he’s provided all of our needs during this trying time.
SRT community, please pray for all these affected by the storm in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee. The National News is not covering nor reporting the devastation this storm left in its path. I guess to them this is old news. Pray for the linemen and all emergency workers as well as volunteers.
Praying for all involved. The footage I’ve seen on social media is overwhelming.
Praying for the whole area and wise leadership to address the needs. Praying for rebuilding and cleanup and insurance and all the things necessary for recovery. My Dad flew down to check on his winter home with my brother and the house is structurally there intact but all the furniture, appliances and a/c will need to be replaced due to the 3 ft surge of water that was in his home. He is a block from the gulf, just awful, makes us feel so small when these storms hit.
Father let the words of my mouth and meditations of my heart be pleasing to You my rock and my Redeemer!
From verse 23: “by promoting self-made religion, false humility” This. There is SO much of this in our society today. The term “false humility” really stuck out to me. Virtue signaling, toxic empathy, call it what you want (because words can be manipulated to say whatever you want them to say) but the bottom line is – it’s wrong. It’s FALSE. It is not truth. Truth only comes from the Word, from the Trinity. I want to follow what God said in the OT, what Jesus did in the NT and what the Holy Spirit guides me to do every day as I keep my eyes upward. I want to follow Truth and not Lies.
Yes and Amen
Laura, I feel like you are the perfect person to ask this, but these passages today really threw me. I struggle with speaking truth in love but yet “not being a stumbling block for others”. What is your take when Paul says in Romans 14:22 whatever you believe about these things, keep between yourself and God. I am discipling a friend who is a new believer, and this is a common “argument” we have, as she is a part of a Methodist Church who is currently going through the process of dividing. I know this is going to be a topic of our conversation this week and I want to come with wisdom!
I too Lanie, was left wanting a little more explanation on these verses. It seems one minute Paul says correct and call out false teaching and then the next it says leave it between them and God.
I also struggle with when to speak truth and when to keep silent and pray. I am always challenged to listen for the Spirit’s prompting and not what I think I should say. My life should be a reflection of Jesus who is full of grace and full of truth. Praying for discernment on how to apply that in my life & relationships. I know that my priority should be to focus first on my walk, my motives but then I always want to be open & listening for the Holy Spirit’s prompting and for the boldness to speak up with His words when He calls me to and provides those opportunities.
Also just wanted to ask if anyone else is not seeing all the comments? I haven’t seen one from Tina in a long time but I will see some comments that seem to reply to her posts??? I always love hearing her comments and encouragement!
ECS – Tina has popped in a couple of times to let us know she is spending time with a young friend, Abbi, who has been struggling for a few weeks. You can read her first share about this on Day 40 of Galatians and Ephesians study.
Hi Lanie: Indeed these verses can be sort of
“off putting” but hey that’s Paul for you! Seriously though, I’ve
always interpreted 14: 22 to mean that out of love I am to meet my brother or sister where they are.
In discussions with other believers who may not be where I am in the faith I have learned to stick to the rudimentary things of Christ: His perfect walk of love , the holiness and the power of His Word for us who believe and lastly the power of His Spirit who is able to lead us into all truth.So on a practical level I obey
Paul’s instruction and
don’t get into the ” touch not , taste not , handle not” stuff but also remember Paul’s statement in
Philippians “And if there is anything else
God Himself will reveal that to you” Hope that helps Lanie, I know Paul’s advice has saved me many a day from arguing and being upset with other
believers.
Yes! Thank you (and to others who have answered in their comments!) I was thinking later that in the past two years God himself has convicted me of very simple or “not obviously bad” things that I used to judge other Christians as being prudes for not being involved in. It has been a humbling experience, and I can truly say that no human could have convinced me those things were harming me, it was only clear to me because God did it ! And it’s funny because my friend and I were just talking about that last week when reading that verse! It is really interesting to me because I have been following Christ my whole life, that for probably 20 years the only thing I felt from God was love. It was like I was on the infants milk forever, because I remember as a young Christian when I read the Bible that was all I saw, no judgement, only love, and that really shaped my world view and how I perceived other Christians who were “a little more advanced” including my on mother and grandmother. It wasn’t until I turned 30, that other parts of the Bible sort of came to life for me. Jesus seemed much tougher than I remembered him. Lol. It took a lot of reckoning to sit through that as he started disciplining me, and maybe that’s why I needed 20 years of nothing but love as the foundation!
Hi Lanie, I’m sorry I didn’t see your response until this morning. I went back and read the whole chapter of Romans 14. In this chapter, Paul is specifically talking about the believers getting worked up about the newbies eating things that they don’t feel is acceptable to God. I agree with many of the comments already made here in interpreting what Paul was getting at. There is a big difference between what we have defined as “Christian behavior” and what the Bible says about how we should live. I like verse 17 of that chapter: For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”. I am reading between the lines that the “argument” you and your new believer friend are having is about the church’s treatment of homosexuality. This is a Biblical truth and not in the same category as eating and drinking (or dancing, or any of the other requirements we humans decide to put on Christians). I agree with others, the Holy Spirit will lead you as you share with this friend, but ultimately, that sharing needs to be grounded in the Bible and what it clearly says about this topic (and any topic that is Biblical). I think that this was Paul’s exact point. Keep your focus on what is from God, not from man. Man is really good at twisting God’s words and making them fit what we want. We need to keep our eyes on what God wants. I also don’t believe this means hitting her over the head with it all at once. But being ready, responding with Biblical truth when asked, praying for wisdom and guidance, all of this is discipling too.
I’ll end with this. I have had plenty of “arguments” with my son who gets caught up on individual scriptures plucked from here and there in the Bible and wants to use them to defend his own feelings and thinking. He is an extremely empathetic young man. He feels deeply for those who are hurting. He doesn’t want to accept what the Bible says sometimes because it sounds cruel to his human ears. I have been frustrated many times with discussions with him, because it seems so clear to me. But I have had to surrender his journey to the Lord. I keep praying for him. When he comes to me, I respond with Biblical truth when it is appropriate. And I wait for the Lord to work in his heart.
I rejoice that you have a friend who is actively seeking, and I will pray that you will be used by the HS to speak truth in love, which I believe means to be discerning of what she can handle at the time. God’s Word never returns void. That has comforted me often when I speak to others who are confused about the Word of God. Be blessed, dear sister in Christ!
Colossians 2:18 NKJV says Let no one cheat you of your reward.
In reading these words and the other Scriptures today, it boils down to this for me … keep my focus on Jesus! Don’t get swept up in distractions or argue for the sake of arguing or listen to what my heart knows does not line up with God’s word. Many times I’ve had people try to convince me that the Bible doesn’t mean what it says because things are different in today’s world. I remind myself that God’s word stands, even in the face of the most forceful, ‘convincing’ arguments.
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SHARON JERSEY GIRL- thank you for the reminder of Who You Say I Am yesterday ❤️
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Prayer request for family member with costly hurricane related insurance coverage issues that will be decided by an adjuster first thing this morning EDT.
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Also, prayer request for a dear friend dealing with unexpected health issues. There was some improvement yesterday, praying for a swift and total recovery.
Right there with you!
Father, give us extra strength to stand firm in Your truth and keep Jesus ever before us!
Amen.
Amen – God’s word stands!
Praying for your friends health issues to be resolved soon. ❤️
Praying
Praying ❤️
Searching, praying for your family member and others affected by the storm ! Praying also for your friend’s health. Happy Friday to all.
Amen
“We belong to Christ. While we live in this fallen world in need of grace, we belong to another King and His kingdom. We can be free of the tyranny of the rules of this world, by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.”
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Amen and amen.
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A WALTON – sorry for your mom’s on-going troubles. Praying.
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MARTHA HIX – continuing to pray for Jesse.
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ALEIDA – continuing to pray for your family.
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SEARCHING – how have you been feeling?
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TINA – continuing to pray for Andi.
Thank you for asking KELLY ❤️ Much better than those worst days & weeks, praise the Lord. Still praying for more comfort in sleeping and resolution of the underlying issues.
Praying for restful sleep
praying for you and with you, sister!!! ❤❤
Thank you for your concern and continued prayers for Jesse. ❤️
Dear Heavenly Abba Father Lord God Almighty, Precious Lord Jesus, Sweet Holy Spirit, I ask you today to give us Wisdom, Fill us with Your Peace! Pour out Your Agape Love into our Hearts more today as we seek your Face. Let us Overflow with your Amazing Joy Lord! Thank you for helping us to be a light and shine bright for you Jesus as we Reflect your Love to everyone who you have brought into our lives. We give you all the Praise. Let your Glory fall upon us today. We Love you Lord Jesus Amen!
Lovely, thank you. And amen!
Yes, amen!
Amen! ❤️
Thank you for the prayers for my mom. She doesn’t have C-Diff anymore! Still, she is having trouble with diarrhea and all the uncomfortableness that goes on with that. Please continue to pray for her healing. She has been dealing with gut issues for almost 2 years now. She is getting so tired of it.
Praying right now. Have a good weekend. ❤️
Praying for continued and total healing.
I am glad your mom is feeling better. Make sure she is taking a good prebiotic and probiotic to restore her gut flora.
Yes, it’s so important. She definitely is. Thanks.
Praise the Lord the C-Diff is gone! Continued prayers for the rest of her healing. ❤️
Praying for your mom and thankful the C-Diff is gone. ❤️