Daily Devotions
Deceitful Philosophy
Title: Deceitful Philosophy
Reading for March 16: Judges 9-10
Weekly reading for March 11-17: Colossians 1-4; Philemon
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
Colossians 2:8
The Venus Flytrap is a carnivorous plant that seduces its prey by secreting a sweet nectar that draws in insects searching for food. Once the insect sets off a trigger in the Flytrap, the "mouth" of the plant closes shut in less than half a second and the unsuspecting insect is trapped and digested.
The devil does the same thing to us by offering us what seems like spiritual food in the form of philosophy and human tradition. These man-made religions use some of the same terminology as the Bible, speaking of God, prayer, faith, hope, etc. Some of these philosophies even use the Bible itself.
However, these religions and philosophies are the inventions of men, and therefore worthless. They take us away from Christ, who is preeminent over all (Col 1:15-23), in whom is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:3), and who is our Head, from whom we all as his body find what we need to grow and mature (Col 2:19).
Father, fill us with the knowledge of your will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in your knowledge.
