Colossians 2:21

Paul is talking about those who associate spirituality with physical observance—things of the material world. He insists that we belong to another world and criticizes people who give spiritual meanings to activities that they say suggest we are spiritual or that we need to do to please God.

What Paul writes here aligns with what Jesus said: It is not what comes into the man that defiles the man but what comes out of the man (Matthew 15:11).

The Pharisees insist that there is a need to wash their hands. And who can argue that people need to wash their hands? But to take it a step further and make it a necessary spiritual requirement against defilement is what Jesus was against.

And he said the heart that makes them add to the word is the same heart that makes them modify a direct commandment from God. They enforce their own commandment but find justification for rejecting God’s (Mark 7:1-23). They make their words the words of God, imbuing them with his authority while rejecting the inherent authority in the word of God.

In the lead verse, Paul gives a sample of human commandments. The pattern is still the same: humans adding to the word of God. This is a man building his kingdom with his own rules masquerading as the kingdom of God.

When Paul left the church in Ephesus for the final time, he wept when he said that people would arise from among the elders and teach perverse things to draw disciples to themselves (Acts 20:29).

Likewise, some people say that they see some special revelation in the scriptures; they see keys to getting this or that from God. They are constantly coming up with rules upon rules.

That is how they maintain their relevance, or they create additional books that they say are of the same level as the word of God, as a rival to the word of God.

The rule could be to dance, sing, or jump. As a way of getting things from God. While dancing, singing, and jumping may not be wrong, the problem comes when we begin to see it as a code for God to work, like ways to press God's button for him to act in the way you want.

But these people may pile verses from the scriptures and stories of how those who do such things made gains. It does not matter because what is false is false.

There is a difference between what the Bible describes as happening and what it promises will happen. Jumping from a Bible story to saying, “This is what will happen all the time; just do what that person did in the Bible,” is to be self-deceived.

God calls us to walk humbly before him (Micah 6:8) and not treat him and his word as a magic box you command.

God once told Moses to strike the rock, and it would bring water out (Exodus 17:6). He said he should speak to the rock the next time (Numbers 20:8-12). That second time, Moses would, as we know, strike the rock instead of speaking to it.

The water flowed, but God was angry with Moses. This is a thumbs-down for examining a passage of scriptures and saying that it contains the secret to getting this or that from God. But God would not be reduced to a formula.

If God is something, it is not formulaic. But the statements “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!” are all formulas.

Some people would bow down a number of times, say some words that you cannot trace to the bible, or clap loudly.

The prophets of Baal relate to their god in a formulaic way (1 Kings 18:26-29). They screamed at the top of their lungs to get its attention. But in relation to God, those formulaic ways erode faith. They are not innocent attractions.

In the chapter about faith (Hebrews 11), the acts of faith listed there were as varied as the people mentioned. Anything that infuses formula to faith erodes faith, meaning faith is now based on the ideas you come up with, human-centered.

However, true faith is based on the finished works of Christ, dependence on what Christ has done, and not a fixation on creating formulas as if we are magicians.

When Paul preached in a certain place, the magicians brought and burned their books (Acts 19:19).

Those who comb the Bible looking for formulas treat it like a magic book. Don’t do that.

Those burnt books are probably full of what to do and what to say. Some people say the key is to pray at certain hours of the day. These people are trying to solve problems. But faith is not about your will being done but God's will being done, which means trusting God and obeying him is faith. You trust and obey someone you cannot see with your eyes; that is faith.

We need our eyes trained on things above and not on things on earth (Colossians 3:2). With eyes trained on the earth, our desires are fueled by what people think about us and not what God thinks about us. We are fueled by the love of the world, which means the love of the Father is not in us (1 John 2:15-17).

We refuse to expose our hearts to God so that he can shape us into who he wants. We are not interested in that.

Again, God is calling us to walk with him. But humans are not content to trust and walk with God. Not content to wait, not content to not dictate things.

Whenever we add rules to the word of God, there is nothing innocent about that. We have chosen to follow our own will rather than the will of God. We have been lured by the desire for shortcuts, or we are trying to follow the ways of man (Proverbs 14:12), which is darkness rather than light.