Changing your philosophy
Colossians 2:8 (NIV)
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
I was reminded the other day that the word or title "Christian" is mentioned only 3 times in the Bible, whereas the title "Disciple" is mentioned 239 times. Maybe we should see ourselves and live to be His disciples rather than just Christians?
Salvation (the moment you respond and give your life to Jesus) is a great step but only one step in a larger journey. That journey is you being a follower or disciple of Jesus, and that journey continues till we stand before Him in heaven. Don't get me wrong, that first step is a powerful one – it gets you totally forgiven, made righteous and made alive in Him. But we should walk forward from this initial step. Using a kitchen worktop (counter top) as an example, one of the things that determines if someone is walking with a commitment to discipleship is whether or not they are letting God work within the "chipboard or grain" of their life or just letting Him merely own the worktop and dust it every now and then.
When you are committed to "being a disciple" you are open and hungry for God to deal with the very belief system of your life, that inner part of you that you daily live out from on a regular basis. We all have a belief system that has been formed by the things we have been exposed to over the length of the life we have lived. The wisdom you have been exposed to, from day one to where you are now, will be a major ingredient to what your belief and value system looks and sounds like, so the problem is what if some or all of the wisdom you were exposed to was not true? How do you know if it was true? The answer is very narrow-minded but needs to be: you hold it against the wisdom of God's word to see if there is a collision of wisdom. Then, if there is, you choose God's wisdom over any other you have known – then you are a disciple!
We are all philosophers
You do not go to school or college to get a philosophy – you already have one; it is simply your system of beliefs and values. Philosophy is a real simple word when you see what it actually means. It is made up of two words – Philo and Sophia. Philo means "to love", Sophia means "Wisdom". So philosophy essentially is "the love of wisdom". Again, the question is what wisdom are you loving? We all have a choice where we source wisdom from. We can source it from the places we knew before God or we can source it now from God Himself. Our text today gives us a clear picture that there are different sources offering you wisdom (knowledge) and the choice remains with us:
"which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ".
• The human traditions and principles of a world that does not recognise God's wisdom as the only true wisdom.
• Christ (pure wisdom that comes from God himself).
Discipleship is daily making the choice to make God the source of the wisdom you choose to embrace and love in every section of your life. You are a philosopher – what is the wisdom you are loving and where did you get it?
God bless,
Andy
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