Substance Abuse

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. (Colossians 2:16-17 ESV)

What we can see is seldom what truly matters. We can look on the outside of a person and that person may appear to be ever so clean and godly with regard to food and drink, religious festivities and Sabbaths - a host of shadowy legalities and observances – and yet may have no connection to the substance of these things, which is Christ. We do not know the heart motivation of others, but we can know our own. We must ask ourselves; is Christ the substance of my obedience?

One of the definitions for the word substance in Webster’s’ dictionary is an “ultimate reality that underlies all outward manifestations and change”. We are all constantly looking for substance in our lives – the reality that causes us to be what we are. Some of us look for that reality (or alternate reality) in drugs and alcohol, which are ironically called substances. Some of us look to work, some to family, some to politics or religion, hobbies, sports or entertainment, even religious ministry. All human beings long to find something that substantiates living – the purpose of our existence.  A reason to be.

The scripture calls us into obedience to God. For many that translates into a relationship with religion in which a moral standard or set of doctrines or required works become the substance of life. Their obedience flows from and is based on an established religious tradition which deems certain things as acceptable and others unacceptable. The substance of their obedience is religious obligation. They seek works-righteousness. Sadly, many born-again Christians have settled into this rut and abandoned their first love for a sort of comfortable and predictable religious obedience – a Christless subsistence. They search for meaning in the shadows having forgotten that the light has already come.

Paul knew that those who found their substance in Christ would be a radical bunch. They might not always look like the button-down religious crowd expected. The freedom they had might be viewed as sacrilege by the ‘orthodox’. Not that they were called to act in disobedience, but that they were called to true obedience – the substance of which was not a religious to-do list but Christ. No longer bound by religious convention, they would no doubt be judged as irreligious by those who still sought their substance among the shadows of a greater righteousness to come. And yet this obedience, whether in a form that leads them to refuse or embrace the observance of any tradition or standard, is true obedience because it is substantiated by Christ alone.

In the end, obedience alone is not proof of relationship to Christ, for if obedience is a manifestation of anything other than Christ it is merely self-preservation and counts for nothing. It is ‘filthy rags’ righteousness. This kind of obedience is merely ‘shadowing’ true righteousness which is found only when Christ becomes the very substance of our lives. That is the gospel truth.

God bless.