Vain Deceit.

Col 2:6  As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: 

Col 2:7  Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. 

Col 2:8  Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 

The world will try to bend you to its design there is no other way around it really. Satan rules this world and he will do all he can to deceive us. I can't talk about this enough because deception is so insidious. The very nature of deceit is not knowing you are deceived until it's too late.  God's word give us all the truth we need so we are NOT deceived, only we have to heed His word. It does no good at all to have a book of instructions if you never read it, never study it, never learn from its contents. Like many people with instructions in general - they believe they can get on without them, knowing what's best. Others will read a few of the instructions and go on ahead with things believing they can figure out the rest. There are many different approaches to a book of instructions, some will read the book all the way through but not in a way of comprehending, but rather surface reading.  If we do not read God's word we will be deceived. If we do not study God's word we will be deceived. If we do not seek full comprehension, we will be deceived. 

We need to be Rooted and Built Up in Christ!

We need to be Stablished in the Faith!

We need to be Thankful!

We have to Beware of men who would Spoil us! And they will spoil us with Philosophy, with Vain Deceit, with Traditions of Men, with Rudiments of this World!

We must believe these truths, we must. If we ignore the truth we allow ourselves to be deceived, and it is a vain deceit isn't it?

Rom 1:21  Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 

Rom 1:22  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools

Vain deceit causes us to believe in ourselves- not Christ. Vain deceit causes us to believe in others- not Christ.

More on this tomorrow by the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord!