In Colossians chapter 2 Paul wrote:
16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths,
17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.
18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.
There are those with great intellect who would try to convince us to follow them yet they are just men who have succumbed to the leading of their mind instead of being led by THE SPIRIT. We are warned not to follow them but to follow the teachings of Christ which are entirely based on Love. Some men would have us follow a prescribed means or method as though it is the key to THE DOOR yet how can a little child do so? We must remind ourselves that the Gospel is simple enough for any man or woman to embrace it, walk in it, and be an overcomer.
The pharisees relied on the complexities of the traditions they arrived at to keep themselves set apart from the average man yet Jesus preached to the multitudes and selected His disciples from the masses. Let us be reminded that legalism is not the path to sonship but Love is. Acceptance, innocence, and forgiveness are simple guidelines to live our life by and as we do so, we will be nourished in whatever area we need to accomplish our purpose in life.
The traditions of man are often harsh and unattainable for the rest of us. The mind would create complexities to cause us to walk in a never-ending quest for achieving some lofty goal out of our reach. Jesus told us that the Kingdom is within us and is accessible to us all. There is no formula necessary to enter in as some would lead us to believe. Simply still your soul and quiet your mind.
Embrace the vastness of the universe and you will put rules and regulations in perspective. Does the sun or moon care about man’s legalistic mandates? No, they simply fulfill their purpose independent of man and his schemes.
Love is what joins and nourishes the body of Christ. Strong tendons and ligaments allow greater things to be done with the body. Jesus summed up the law by two commandments of Love. How simple! There is no need to memorize 613 commandments and statutes if you only embrace those two spoken by Jesus. THE SPIRIT will guide you to do the right thing in all areas of your life as you submit to Love. It worked for Jesus and it will work for us.