Hi
Michael, I was curious to unravel the wording "Trying too hard is missing the mark." in Col 2:20-23, so I read the chapter carefully, and to help here it is --
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1 I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally.
2 My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ,
3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.
5For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.
Spiritual Fullness in Christ
6So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him,
7rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
8See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces
a of this world rather than on Christ.
9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
10and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.
11In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh
bwas put off when you were circumcised by
c Christ,
12having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you
dalive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
14having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.
15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
e
Freedom From Human Rules
16Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.
17These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
18Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind.
19They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
20 Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules:
21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”?
22 These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings.
23 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.
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There are many valuable things in the chapter, such as that Christ is the head of the church, and that we must stay in connection to Him, which is powerfully laid out in John chapter 15, v1-17, even in a way that we must have, as Christ said this is the only way to bear true fruit, which He said we must do or we would be cut of the true vine (if we refused to bear that fruit), and then "cast into the fire". But to bear that fruit comes from believing and abiding in Him and keeping His words and following Him.
In verses 20-23 above in Col 2 we can see Paul explaining that various rules of
careful handling of items, exact foods to eat and to not eat, and such as a way to being more holy are not the way.
Instead Christ is the way, and being connected, remaining in Him, is the way. (John 15)
So, to paraphrase with words like you use, instead of working harder to add more rules, instead we do not add more rules, but instead we follow the way Christ said to us to follow,
His way.
It reminds us of the phrasing instead of working harder we are to work smarter. But the 'smarter' here is also a life jacket no less -- to abide in Christ, in His words, looking to Him, keeping our focus on Him. It's as we learn reading in the gospel of John, that even hearing (truly listening) to His words helps us. Through abiding in Him, we follow Him, as our response.
"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me."
I don't know if some may say it is 'trying harder' when we do as Christ said, but some might, because the same words are often used in different ways by different people.
That 'trying harder' (for a person that
uses the words in that different way) would be to keep our focus on Him, and to rely on Him, and to listen to His words, and believe on Him, and pray as He said to us to pray, and follow the urge of the spirit when we are to repent, and when we pray, and when we reach out to a neighbor or a member of the church, to keep His commandment to us to love one another.
It's not really trying harder when we do this He said --
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
It seems as we focus on Him, and learn His Words to us, as we really
listen to Him, then to love becomes
easier.
