Colossians 2:19 - Hold on!

"...and not grasping the head, out of whom all the body through the joints and ligaments supplying and bringing together is increasing the increase of God."

-It’s not ultimately about what I eat or don’t eat, what I drink or don’t drink, or what kind of special rituals holidays or disciplines I may or may not observe.  What ultimately matters most in life, what really counts in matters of eternity is, how am I connecting with Jesus Christ.  Real spiritual progress and growth which is truly of God comes only as one holds fast to Christ, Who is the Head of the body of God’s people.  Just as the growth of a regular body all depends on the head, so as it relates to things pertaining to God, it all depends on Christ.  So again, do not pay attention or defer to anyone who is not ultimately pointing you to Jesus, helping you to follow and depend on Him.  The pastor in your pulpit, the spiritual guides in your life, the people who belong to your church - if these are not spurring you on towards Christ, you owe it to yourself to consider whether you may need to find a different place to belong and serve.  Leaving a church family ought to be the option of last resort, as injurious as that is to an already-way-too-factured church, but a so-called church or other spiritual ministry which is not pointing people towards Jesus is really not a place where the Gospel can do a whole lot of advancing, either in the lives of those who belong or in the lives of those they may or may not be seeking to reach.

-but to that point, the church is like a body.  Paul merely alludes to it here without going into much detail, but he regularly uses this metaphor of a body to describe the dynamic that plays out among the people of God.  There is the head - Jesus, and there is growth, which comes form God Himself, and then there is a Holy Spirit-forged connectedness which is analogous to the joints and ligaments of the human body (don’t miss the Trinity sighting here!).  Ligaments are what keep the bones and joints of the human body from being pulled apart by the forces exerted on them by the muscles as well as outside forces (unless of course and until they may be torn apart by some injurious impact).  Elsewhere Paul attributes the similar tight connectedness of those who follow Christ to the ongoing unifying work of the Holy Spirit, and he exhorts God’s people to do their level best to guard this oneness (Ephesians 4.1-3).  God Himself will bring the increase - all we need to do is come together in love and hold on...!