Do Not Let Anyone Disqualify You, a Reflection on Colossians 2:16-19

Paul is cautioning that Christians don't allow themselves to be distracted by what may look good but is actually peripheral to the essence of what they should be doing, thinking, caring about. Moreover, he says not to pay attention to critics who themselves can't distinguish between shadow and substance--the core of Christianity and the patina we may exhibit instead.

From time to time, faithful Christians can somehow drift to faithfulness in something they call Christianity to someone that whom they call Christ. They, we, need periodically--constantly, even--to examine our beliefs and behavior in light of the actual Christ. As Paul put it:

Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.