Give Up

""Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence." Colossians 2:21-23

Recently, I was conducting some business with a gentleman who began to tell me about his brother's struggles with Lent. Apparently, his brother had decided to give up certain types of foods not only as a reflection of his faith, but also for health reasons. Come to find out this man's brother decided to attend a retreat with his church. Unfortunately, while he is at this retreat, he finds out that most of the food being served is the food he had made a vow not to eat! So he calls his brother, the man telling me this story, and asks to be picked up from this retreat because he can't take it anymore and is not enjoying his time there. It was actually a humorous story, but one of the lessons I took from it was how this man became completely consumed by the food he had vowed to give up and it made him miserable. Personally, I share the same view about all this as the Apostle Paul when he said, in Romans 14:14,"I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself." In other words, it is okay to eat anything you desire to eat. Yet, in that very same verse, Paul wrote, "But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean." I feel that man's brother falls under the second part of the verse. He feels that certain foods are "unclean" and he is trying to avoid them. While I understand his efforts, his struggle is proof that even the best intentions don't often yield the results we desire. In fact, they only increase the problem in many ways.

In Colossians 2:23, we see how it says this type of behavior does little "in restraining sensual indulgence." One thing that putting ourselves under law does, whether God's law or one of our own making, is that it gives us more things to think about not doing. This is the exact opposite of what we believe subjecting ourselves to these laws will do. While our attempts at such "harsh treatment of the body" may show our commitment and dedication to what we believe and score us points with our fellow man, for most it won't bring them any closer to a relationship with their God. Why? The Bible says, "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law (1 Corinthians 15:56)." The power of sin is the law. The law, any law, is designed to stir up more sin; not reduce it. When we focus on sin we only find more of it. The gentleman who tried to avoid certain foods couldn't avoid them; it was all about what he wasn't allowed to do. There is no freedom in that; only bondage. He basically had told himself, "do not handle, do not taste and do not touch," certain foods. Those foods ended being all he focused on and in the end he lost whatever time and attention he planned on giving to God. There is no freedom in subjecting ourselves to human rules and regulations we cannot keep. The result will be us feeling even further away from the Lord then when we started. The blessing is that it is our pursuit of obedience to these things that brings us to the end of ourselves and into the arms of a loving God through faith in Jesus Christ. Give up trying and give in to resting in the Lord.