IIT UBF - University Bible Fellowship at IIT

Daily Bread

Fullness and Freedom in Christ

Date: Feb. 24, 2026

Passage

Colossians 2:6-23 (ESV)

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

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. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations—21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Daily Bread

Key Verse: 2:10a

and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

Paul urges believers to remain fully grounded in Christ. They accepted him by faith. They should continue to live in him by faith. He also warns his readers to not be misled by hollow philosophies based on human tradition and not based in Christ. The fullness of God dwells in Christ, and through him, we as believers share in his fullness. Through Christ, we have been transformed, which Paul likens to a circumcision of the heart, and symbolized by baptism, where believers die to sin and are raised to new and eternal life. Through Christ, all our sins have been forgiven, and all the powers and authorities have been disarmed.

Paul then warns believers not to let others judge them based on religious rituals, dietary laws, or observance of festivals and Sabbaths, which he calls mere shadows of the reality found in Christ. He cautions against false humility and angel worship, which lack true spiritual value. These man-made rules may seem impressive, but they cannot restrain sinful desires or bring genuine transformation. Paul emphasizes that since believers have died with Christ to worldly principles, they are no longer bound by such external regulations. True freedom and spiritual growth come from holding fast to Christ

Prayer: Father, in Christ is everything we need.

One Word: In Christ is the fullness

Daily Bread

“the Lord Will Fight for You”

Exodus 13:17-14:14

Key Verse: 13:14:14

And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery.

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Intro Daily