Scripture

Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.

Observation

Just as we received Christ, we are to continue to live in Him, strengthened in faith as we walk with Him.

Avoid all hollow and deceptive philosophy based on worldly or human principles, rather than on Christ. We have been given all the fullness of Christ. We are united with Christ in His death and resurrection.

We were dead in our sins, but Christ made us alive in Him. He forgave our sins, cancelled the Law (crucified it, in fact!), and disarmed the powers and principalities.

So we need to beware of any attempt to take us back to the Law, or to the worship of angels, or other deceptions.

Application

People who claim to be more spiritual than they really are can lead us into all kinds of deception.

People who claim to have had angelic visitations, and talk about them all the time, can seem to be more spiritual than the rest of us., but they can lead us to a place where we worship the angels and other created beings, leading us away from Christ.

We can celebrate with those who have genuine experiences that are out of the ordinary. In fact we are supposed to be aware constantly of the spiritual realm.

Deception comes in when all we want is the angelic experience. When meeting with angels is more important to us than meeting with Christ, there is a problem.

Paul talks about human philosophy and the Jewish law as well as worshipping angels. All of these tings may be interesting, but our focus must always be on worshipping and living in Christ.

If I focus my eyes on Jesus, then I may have amazing experiences of the power of the Holy Spirit or of angels. But if I focus on the experiences, I may quickly lose sight of Jesus.

Prayer

Lord, may you always be right in front of me. Let nothing else take my focus away from you. Amen.