Get Clear on Jesus, part 2
When You Have Christ, You Have Everything: Confronting the Fears That Shake Our Faith
There is a particular kind of fear that does not come from dark alleys or threatening strangers. It comes from within the walls of religious community. It whispers in the language of spiritual concern and dresses itself in the clothing of holiness. And if you have ever sat in a pew or a small group and walked away wondering whether you are doing enough, measuring up enough, or experiencing enough to be considered a genuine follower of Christ, then you have felt exactly what the Christians in Colossae felt when the Apostle Paul wrote to them.
Paul's letter to the Colossians contains one of the most personally relevant passages in all of the New Testament for modern believers. In Colossians 2:16-19, he confronts two specific fears that were being weaponized against ordinary Christians by teachers who had inserted themselves as spiritual gatekeepers. These fears are not ancient relics. They are alive and active today. And Paul's remedy for both of them is the same: Jesus Christ.
The Fear of Not Measuring Up
The first fear Paul addresses is the fear of not measuring up to a religious standard. In Colossians 2:16-17, he urges believers not to allow anyone to judge them regarding food, drink, festivals, new moons, or Sabbath observances. He then offers a stunning summary: these things were a shadow of what was to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
To understand the weight of that statement, it helps to understand what those observances meant. The dietary laws, the Sabbath, the festivals -- these were not arbitrary rules. They were God-given markers of identity for His covenant people, Israel. They shaped a community set apart from the surrounding nations, pointing forward to something greater than themselves. They were, as Paul says, shadows. And shadows, by their very nature, point to something solid.
That solid reality is Christ. Galatians 4:4-5 tells us that in the fullness of time, God sent His Son, born under the law, to redeem those under the law. Romans 10:4 declares that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. The writer of Hebrews makes clear that the law contained only a shadow of the good things to come, not the realities themselves, and that Christ offered a single, perfect sacrifice that accomplished what endless ritual could never achieve.
This means that anyone who approaches you with a clipboard of religious requirements and uses it to measure your standing before God has fundamentally misunderstood what Christ accomplished. Legalism -- the impulse to reduce the Christian life to a list of do's and don'ts -- is not merely annoying. It is a distortion of the gospel. It shifts the foundation of your confidence from what Christ has done to what you have managed to do.
The good news is not that God is grading the sincerity of your effort. It is that Christ fulfilled every requirement of the law on your behalf. The strength of your faith does not save you. The object of your faith saves you. And if that object is Christ, Paul's word to you is direct and clear: do not let anyone judge you. You have the substance. You have everything.
The Fear of Missing Out
The second fear Paul confronts is subtler and, in some ways, more seductive. In Colossians 2:18-19, he warns against teachers who were claiming access to visionary experiences, the worship of angels, and mystical encounters that supposedly elevated them to a higher spiritual plane. They implied that Christians who had not accessed these experiences were spiritually incomplete, disqualified from the fullness of life with God.
Paul's response is sharp. He calls these teachers inflated by empty notions of their unspiritual minds. Despite their claims of heavenly access, he says they had let go of the head -- Christ -- from whom the entire body receives nourishment and growth.
There is something deeply human about the fear of missing out on a spiritual experience that others seem to have. Many believers quietly wonder whether their faith is somehow deficient because they have never heard an audible voice, seen a vision, or felt a dramatic, instantaneous transformation. And there is no shortage of voices, online and in person, who are happy to confirm that suspicion and offer their experience as the standard everyone else should aspire to reach.
But Paul points the Colossians -- and us -- back to what they already possess. Ephesians 1:3 reminds us that believers are blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Ephesians 2:4-6 describes how God, even while we were dead in our trespasses, raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly places. The fullness of deity dwells in Christ, Paul says in Colossians 2:9, and in Him we have been filled.
This does not mean dramatic spiritual experiences are impossible or that God never works in extraordinary ways. It means that no such experience is required to validate your standing before God or to guarantee your spiritual growth. Christ is the head of the body. He is the source. And He grows His people not always through blinding lights and angelic visions, but through the slow, steady, imperceptible work of His Spirit -- transforming ordinary people from one degree of glory to the next over the course of an ordinary lifetime.
Confidence in the Face of Fear
Religious bullies, whether ancient or modern, all operate the same way. They prey on fear. The fear of not measuring up. The fear of missing out. They use spiritual language to create insecurity and then position themselves as the solution.
Paul's answer to both fears is the same person. Christ is the substance of life with God. Christ is the source of all spiritual growth. If you are trusting in Him and walking with Him, you are not behind. You are not disqualified. You are not missing the point.
When you are clear on who Christ is and what He has done, you will find that you have something far more durable than a childhood comeback against the voices that try to shake your confidence. You have the One in whom all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And in Him, you have been filled.
There is a particular kind of fear that does not come from dark alleys or threatening strangers. It comes from within the walls of religious community. It whispers in the language of spiritual concern and dresses itself in the clothing of holiness. And if you have ever sat in a pew or a small group and walked away wondering whether you are doing enough, measuring up enough, or experiencing enough to be considered a genuine follower of Christ, then you have felt exactly what the Christians in Colossae felt when the Apostle Paul wrote to them.
Paul's letter to the Colossians contains one of the most personally relevant passages in all of the New Testament for modern believers. In Colossians 2:16-19, he confronts two specific fears that were being weaponized against ordinary Christians by teachers who had inserted themselves as spiritual gatekeepers. These fears are not ancient relics. They are alive and active today. And Paul's remedy for both of them is the same: Jesus Christ.
The Fear of Not Measuring Up
The first fear Paul addresses is the fear of not measuring up to a religious standard. In Colossians 2:16-17, he urges believers not to allow anyone to judge them regarding food, drink, festivals, new moons, or Sabbath observances. He then offers a stunning summary: these things were a shadow of what was to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
To understand the weight of that statement, it helps to understand what those observances meant. The dietary laws, the Sabbath, the festivals -- these were not arbitrary rules. They were God-given markers of identity for His covenant people, Israel. They shaped a community set apart from the surrounding nations, pointing forward to something greater than themselves. They were, as Paul says, shadows. And shadows, by their very nature, point to something solid.
That solid reality is Christ. Galatians 4:4-5 tells us that in the fullness of time, God sent His Son, born under the law, to redeem those under the law. Romans 10:4 declares that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. The writer of Hebrews makes clear that the law contained only a shadow of the good things to come, not the realities themselves, and that Christ offered a single, perfect sacrifice that accomplished what endless ritual could never achieve.
This means that anyone who approaches you with a clipboard of religious requirements and uses it to measure your standing before God has fundamentally misunderstood what Christ accomplished. Legalism -- the impulse to reduce the Christian life to a list of do's and don'ts -- is not merely annoying. It is a distortion of the gospel. It shifts the foundation of your confidence from what Christ has done to what you have managed to do.
The good news is not that God is grading the sincerity of your effort. It is that Christ fulfilled every requirement of the law on your behalf. The strength of your faith does not save you. The object of your faith saves you. And if that object is Christ, Paul's word to you is direct and clear: do not let anyone judge you. You have the substance. You have everything.
The Fear of Missing Out
The second fear Paul confronts is subtler and, in some ways, more seductive. In Colossians 2:18-19, he warns against teachers who were claiming access to visionary experiences, the worship of angels, and mystical encounters that supposedly elevated them to a higher spiritual plane. They implied that Christians who had not accessed these experiences were spiritually incomplete, disqualified from the fullness of life with God.
Paul's response is sharp. He calls these teachers inflated by empty notions of their unspiritual minds. Despite their claims of heavenly access, he says they had let go of the head -- Christ -- from whom the entire body receives nourishment and growth.
There is something deeply human about the fear of missing out on a spiritual experience that others seem to have. Many believers quietly wonder whether their faith is somehow deficient because they have never heard an audible voice, seen a vision, or felt a dramatic, instantaneous transformation. And there is no shortage of voices, online and in person, who are happy to confirm that suspicion and offer their experience as the standard everyone else should aspire to reach.
But Paul points the Colossians -- and us -- back to what they already possess. Ephesians 1:3 reminds us that believers are blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Ephesians 2:4-6 describes how God, even while we were dead in our trespasses, raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly places. The fullness of deity dwells in Christ, Paul says in Colossians 2:9, and in Him we have been filled.
This does not mean dramatic spiritual experiences are impossible or that God never works in extraordinary ways. It means that no such experience is required to validate your standing before God or to guarantee your spiritual growth. Christ is the head of the body. He is the source. And He grows His people not always through blinding lights and angelic visions, but through the slow, steady, imperceptible work of His Spirit -- transforming ordinary people from one degree of glory to the next over the course of an ordinary lifetime.
Confidence in the Face of Fear
Religious bullies, whether ancient or modern, all operate the same way. They prey on fear. The fear of not measuring up. The fear of missing out. They use spiritual language to create insecurity and then position themselves as the solution.
Paul's answer to both fears is the same person. Christ is the substance of life with God. Christ is the source of all spiritual growth. If you are trusting in Him and walking with Him, you are not behind. You are not disqualified. You are not missing the point.
When you are clear on who Christ is and what He has done, you will find that you have something far more durable than a childhood comeback against the voices that try to shake your confidence. You have the One in whom all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And in Him, you have been filled.
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