All Publications by 5 Loaves Of Bread

Scams. They’ve been on the forefront of the news for the past couple of years. We’ve seen the headlines - an elderly lady loses her retirement money to an online love scam, people get their accounts hacked when they click on links claiming that they can claim some vouchers.  In the spiritual realm, the devil has always been looking for opportunities to scam God’s people - from the time he deceived Eve to eat the fruit and sin against God, to the time of Paul writing Colossians, and even till today.  While physical scams can cause us loss of money or security, spiritual scams can cheat us of our very lives! Let us therefore take heed from Paul’s warnings in this chapter today.  One of the most common tactics used by scammers is to sway their victims by their emotions. Scammers leverage our affection, our pity, our fear of missing out, to persuade us to help them or buy something from them. Likewise, in our faith, our emotions are often harnessed to deceive us. “If God is love, how can the way of salvation be so narrow that so few people in this world of billions can be saved?” Such emotional arguments can sway us to compromise on the truth. We must remind ourselves that our emotions do not override the righteousness and wisdom of God. Let us always strive to attain the full assurance of understanding and knowledge of the mystery of God (Col 2:2-3), so that we will not be persuaded away from what we have received (Col 2:6-7). Another tactic scammers employ is to exploit our own confirmation biases. We humans have a tendency to easily believe things that seem aligned with our own prior knowledge and beliefs. This leads us to believe the scammer more easily, because it isn’t just what they told us - it’s what we know ourselves! Paul tells us to beware of philosophies that are according to the “basic principles of the world” (Col 2:8). Such arguments appeal to our own rational thinking - it makes logical sense to us intuitively - and thus we like to believe these things.  In Colosse, these heretical philosophies may have been trying to reason about the nature of Christ. Today, there are also many deceitful philosophies that can cheat us of our salvation. For example, the devil may tempt us to think that it is ok to do something - as long as we don’t “cross the line”. This seems to make a lot of rational sense - as long as we haven’t committed the act of sin, aren’t we technically still innocent before God? Let us remind ourselves - God is not mocked (Gal 6:7). As followers of Christ, we have to submit everything to Christ - even our own human wisdom. The message of the cross is foolishness to the world, but it is in fact the wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:20-25). We must learn to put down our own logic and arguments, to submit in fear to the will of God, lest we be deceived. The third way scammers deceive us is by presenting something that appeals to our desires. That magical weight-loss pill that requires no diet or exercise, and has no side effects. That investment scheme which has no risk and promises the best returns. All the benefits, none of the hard work required. In other words, the easy way out.  God’s people always suffered from this problem as well. They focused on the form of worship (sacrifices and festivals), rather than practicing true religion - justice, mercy and humility (Micah 6:7-8). Even in the times of Jesus, He rebuked the Pharisees for doing the same (Matt 23:23).  In Colosse, there were people who preached that one had to practice various religious rites - keeping certain festivals, abstaining from various things (Col 2:16,18,20). Have you considered why the believers could be swayed by such teachings? Wasn’t the liberty in Christ that they originally received much easier to practice?  Perhaps it was due to this same reason - that practicing these things made them feel like they were being religious and allowed them to feel good about themselves. All the while ignoring what Christ truly called them to do - put to death the old man and be transformed into a new man (Col 2:11). The easy way out.  Today, there are many things we can busy ourselves with in our church life - various duties, services and fellowships. Let us not deceive ourselves into thinking that these things can replace our need to do the will of God, to spiritually nurture ourselves, and to bear fruits.  May we always examine ourselves as to whether we have fallen for any of these spiritual scams today.

Paul’s choices showed his allegiance. What about us?

Reflect on our own moments of grief with Paul’s advice to the Corinthians.

The Corinthians had an appearance of humility, but were puffed up. What about us?

How should Christians conduct ourselves in society?

Have we ever felt ashamed of the gospel? Paul certainly didn’t - he makes that clear not only in his writings in Romans, but in his very life and how he chose to lead it.

In Zechariah 11, God asks Zechariah to act as a shepherd. Zechariah 11:13 is particularly striking: he is valued at 30 silver pieces, thrown to the potter. This clearly points to Judas betraying Jesus for the same amount, which was later used to buy a potter's field. While earlier chapters point to Jesus as the coming Good Shepherd who visits His flock (Zech 9:9, Zech 10:2-3), the tone shifts here. Chapter 11 depicts Jesus’ betrayal and rejection by the Jews. This rejection has consequences, symbolized by Zechariah breaking two staffs: "Beauty," representing God's covenant with the peoples, and "Bonds," representing the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. This can be seen in the Jews - they themselves rejected the New Covenant Jesus made, and in 70 AD, they were scattered throughout the world as Jerusalem was destroyed. This makes me reflect on the cost of rejecting the Lord. Jesus being sold for 30 pieces of silver was not only the work of Judas, but also of the priests, the scribes, and all the Jews who rejected Him.  The consequences of rejecting their Shepherd were severe. And it has been clearly shown in the Bible to us today as an example. We may think that we will never do something as heinous as the Jews who crucified Jesus. But when we reject Him in our hearts, the consequences are equally severe. Just like the breaking of the 2 staffs, when we reject Christ, we break our relationship with God and His people. God next tells Zechariah to play as a foolish shepherd in place of the previous shepherd, who will not care for the sheep, and even eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hooves in pieces (Zech 11:16). Rejecting Christ the Good Shepherd, Israel has become blinded (Romans 11:7-8) and follows foolish shepherds who do not care for the flock like Jesus does. When we reject Christ, we may seek after other shepherds as our guide and reliance in our lives. These may be actual people we put our trust in, or the false idols that we replace God with, such as money. But these shepherds do not truly have our interest at heart, just like the worthless shepherd in this chapter. Let us reflect today. Are there any areas where we reject Jesus and His words - perhaps for some temporary gain, like Judas? Or because of pride, like the scribes and Pharisees? Let us take heed from what Jesus tells us in John 3:16-18.

Let us reflect on our own faith as we read about God’s certain declarations of His promises.