As a child it was fun to step on shadows. I thought stepping on someone’s shadow was the same as stepping on them. I would kick shadows and step on them as a way of getting back at someone who hurt me or tease someone who needed a little gentle prodding. But we all know that stepping on shadows isn’t really effective!

The old I grew the more I began to realize that shadows aren’t real. Shadows are just images cast off of the original. This conversation about shadows can also be applied to our lives as followers of Jesus. But what are the shadows we follow of believers?

Paul spends some time here in Colossians 2 discussing that very idea. The shadows we have in our lives as Christians are our rituals and traditions. Paul talks about food restrictions and dietary guidelines and rubrics for worship. These are great when done with the right focus. But the problem was the followers of Jesus were making these forms of worship and Christian life into the function or purpose for their Christian lives.

They were making the shadow into the real thing. Just like trying to hug your shadow won’t give you much comfort so also worshiping the shadows in our faith lives won’t really yield any results. Listen as we discuss how to keep shadows in their appropriate place and how to properly focus on the real thing!