For the next three Sundays we pause in our study of Colossians to dissect a little deeper Paul’s instructions to be on our guard against deceptive philosophies that distort the gospel (Col 2:4). What might be the stories, ideas, and messages of our time that threaten to “take you captive” (Col 2:8) and conform us to a particular pattern (Rom 12:2)? Using the tower of Babel account from Genesis 11:1-9 as our archetypal picture of human rebellion against God, we will name three captivating stories of culture and give a hopeful contrast in the beauty, truth, hope, and sufficiency of Christ and his plan for us. May we all “reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature… no longer infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.” (Eph 4:13-15)