I’m someone who can appreciate a good list.
I keep a myriad of them on my phone, laptop, and notebook with topics ranging from ‘Books to Read’ to ‘Life Goals.’ Explicitly lining out what I aspire to accomplish in both the short and long term allows me to organize my thoughts and thereby prioritize my day. It ensures that I accomplish that which I have selected to value.
While this tool can yield immense value, it is sadly not comprehensive. For there are areas of my life that exist beyond the bounds of any checklist: relationships. For I may be able to derive a logical list of actions or patterns that are likely to benefit my interactions, but absent truly transcendent A.I. it will never fully capture the needs of that relationship. For people are far more multi-dimensional than any checklist can capture.
The same is true regarding our relationship with the divine. We’ve missed the point when we focus on arbitrary lists of rites, rituals, and religion. There are so many superficial barriers we have created and ardently sustain. But such is not the way of Jesus, but the way of man. Of trying to restrict and control, vice foster and love.
“Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It’s not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you’re already in—insiders—not through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin.”
The list of things we need to accomplish so God will accept us is a farce. There is no degree to which our lives need to be together before we can be redeemed. What the author of Colossians is conveying is that we are already fully accepted and can experience that closeness today. For God is not some sub-par dishwasher that requires extensive pre-washing, but is fully capable of taking us exactly as we stand.
The question becomes, what artificiality are you hanging on to? What self-imposed impedance is keeping you from the connection you should be enjoying today? Discard the checklist of expectations others have burdened you with and surrender to His grace.