Focus: Answers to "Why"

Colossians 2:8

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.  ESV

Little kids all have the same favorite question: "Why?" When they see something happen, they want to know why it happened that way. When their parents tell them to do something, they want to know why they have to do it. They want to know the "why" for everything. It's natural; humans generally want to know the reasons behind things. We want to know why things work the way they do, why things happen the way they do, why we have to do the things we do. The problem is that our need for an answer to life's "why" or "how" questions can lead us to accept some pretty bogus answers.

In this passage, Paul was warning his readers not to accept answers or solutions just because they sounded good. Just because an idea or an explanation sounds smooth, smart, or sophisticated, that doesn't make it right. Paul made it clear throughout the book of Colossians that this world was created by and for Jesus Christ; it was created so that He may be glorified. Any philosophy or theory that contradicts that truth is nothing more than empty talk.

• How does knowing Christ and having him as the FOCUS of our life make it easy not to fall for faulty explanations and solutions?