Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.
Colossians 2:16 (NIV)

I have been something of a denominational nomad during my faith journey. The ancient Apostle’s Creed says “I believe in the holy catholic church” which confuses a lot of modern believers. They get it confused with the Roman Catholic tradition. The word “catholic” means “broad, universal, comprehensive.” In other words, the “church” is not contained by one denomination or tradition. I’ve always embraced this belief. Thus, rather than play for one team, I’ve been a bit of a free agent. I feel at home in many different denominational traditions, even though I may not agree 100% with the jots and tittles of their particular doctrinal statements.

Along my spiritual journey, I’ve encountered a number of individuals and groups that hold what I consider to be wacky beliefs. There are the Pentecostals who equate “speaking in tongues” with spiritual elitism (“You don’t have to speak in tongues, but why go Greyhound when you could fly first class?”). I’ve never had to work hard to find all kind of legalism that still exists around the Sabbath (“You can go outside and play catch, but don’t you dare play an actual game!”). I have a friend whose parent refused to attend their wedding unless they were baptized three times. Silly.

I find it fascinating that Christianity began as a spiritual movement. Jesus did not fret too much about structure. Twelve marginally capable men and a handful of dutifully faithful women were directed with little detail to spread Jesus’ love and teaching to the ends of the earth. Peter was given a leadership role, but no real job description. It wasn’t an organization as much as it was an organism.

As the Jesus movement spread, the reality is that there were a number of wacky beliefs that emerged in various locations. Paul’s letter to the followers of Jesus in Colossae was specifically written to address some of these. Paul doesn’t name any specifics. It’s likely that it wasn’t a single, organized false teaching but rather a loose number of strange things different individuals were spouting. What Paul does make clear to the believers in Colossae is that they were to hold fast to the simplicity of Jesus’ core teaching:

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

In the quiet this morning, I am prepping for a message I have to deliver on Sunday from the book of Revelation. Talk about a book that spawns a wide range of thoughts and beliefs (and, yes, some of them are wacky). I find John’s Revelation is a lot like what Paul was communicating to the believers in Colossae. One can get spiritually distracted by all sorts of things. For the Colossians it was dietary restrictions, Sabbath regulations, and New Moon festivals. In John’s vision it’s beasts and horsemen and plagues. As I get to the core of it, however, the vision is about one thing: Jesus Christ is Lord. Paul was telling the Colossians to ignore the wackiness stay focused on that.

I’ve always found that to be a good plan.

I’ll stick with that.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.