<\/p>\n
See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.<\/p>\n
\u2013Colossians 2:8<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Karl Valentin, a clown from Munich, Germany, once performed a scene on a darkened stage that was illuminated by a single streetlamp. The clown walked around the circle of light with a frown on his face, desperately looking for something. A policeman entered the scene and asked what the clown had lost. He said, \u201cThe key to my house.\u201d So the policeman joined the clown in walking around and around the circle of light, to no avail. Finally, the policeman asked the clown, \u201cAre you sure you lost it here?\u201d<\/p>\n
The clown said no and pointed to a darkened area of the stage. \u201cOver there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why on earth are you looking for it here?\u201d the policeman asked. The clown replied, \u201cThere is no light over there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many people are like that clown. They\u2019re searching not for their keys but for answers to life\u2019s most important questions:\u00a0Who am I? Why am I here? Is there a God? If there is a God, what does He want from me?<\/em>\u00a0But instead of looking in the right place for answers, they\u2019re looking at the most appealing philosophies of the day\u2013philosophies that promise to offer light but are based on darkness. In Colossians 2, Paul reminded us that the answers to life\u2019s most important questions are not found in human philosophy; they are found in the person of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
The Colossian church was being infiltrated by false teachers who said Jesus is not sufficient for every need you have in life\u2013you need Jesus plus something else. So Paul reminded the Colossians not to be lured away by other philosophies, experiences, or religions. He didn\u2019t buy into an idea that is prevalent among Christians today: that you should never criticize anybody else\u2019s beliefs but instead just be positive about your own religion. Paul recognized that as a spiritual leader, his job was to help protect God\u2019s sheep by warning them about false teachings that were leading them astray.<\/p>\n
One thing Paul warned against was human philosophy. He wrote, \u201cSee to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ\u201d (v. 8). Human philosophy can lead you away from God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. \u2013Colossians 2:8 Karl Valentin, a clown from Munich, Germany, once performed a scene on a darkened stage that was illuminated by … Continue reading “Pathway to Victory – Devotion”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-191785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191785"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":191788,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191785\/revisions\/191788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}