Abstinence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Colossians 2:20-23 – Abstinence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Instead of “if,” read “since.” Since you died with Christ. Remember that Paul is writing to believers, and in the Bible, context means everything (along with the rules of grammar – but I really don’t want to get into that). Having said that, there is the possibility that Paul is showing them a particularly frustrating dilemma – not everyone who says, “Lord, Lord shall enter the Kingdom,” according to Jesus. What is required is true salvation based on God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ. None of the other things that the Judaizers (a group of professing Christians that insisted that Gentiles had to become Jewish and follow their rituals before you could be a Christian) taught is adequate. So unless they have truly repented of their sins and accepted the forgiveness that God offers, there is no salvation. For those who have, however, we died with Christ. These worldly, fleshly, legalistic principles have no power over us.

So the question is, “Are they saved?” Paul is asking these Colossians if they know beyond a shadow of doubt that they have surrendered their lives to the Lordship of Jesus. If they have, why are they bothering to follow the legalistic teachings of men when they have been set free? Eating certain foods or touching “unclean” things cannot affect your salvation. Maybe in human religions this makes you seem more pious in your own eyes. Maybe a little wiser to those who believe like you do. But these practices do not change your spiritual condition. It’s a bit like a man being in prison for years, and he cannot wait to get out. The day finally comes and he is released. No parole. No probation. He is completely exonerated, but ever night he returns to his jail cell. It makes no sense.

Paul says that there is “no value against the indulgence of the flesh.” What he means is that denying yourself these things does not change the desires of your heart. Only God can do that. In spiritual matters, quite often a play on an old saying is true: abstinence makes the heart grow fonder – of fleshly desires! Only a right relationship with the Father can set you free from the bondage of human desire.