Colossians 2:16

16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.

In the Book of Colossians, Paul refuted a good number of false teachings regarding how to get closer to God and how to get saved. Many Colossian false preachers were telling their congregations stuff about “having secret knowledge of Jesus” to be saved, or “denying the body enough” to be saved, etc. They were also negatively judging those who did not have this “secret knowledge” of Jesus and did not deny themselves nourishment or come to every festival they held.

While these practices sound kinda Christian on the surface (denying the body’s fleshly desires, knowing all you can about Jesus, etc.), the key word there is “kinda”–it’s not really Christianity. You don’t have to possess secret knowledge to be saved, nor can you make yourself good enough through denying the flesh to be saved. All that it takes to be saved is accepting Jesus’ sacrifice for you, asking Jesus to come into your heart. Any other requirements are human-imposed only.

Paul wrote this letter many centuries ago, but it still applies to today’s situations, too. We all know Christians who judge other believers for not being in church every time the doors open, not “dressing up in Sunday best,” not listening to just Christian music, etc. Unfortunately, this kind of judgmental attitude is what the church has become best-known for in recent years.

With this letter to the Colossians, Paul also warns us not to judge each other by this kind of worthless worldly yardstick. We can’t know the state of someone else’s salvation, nor are we supposed to comment on it like we know better. Instead, we are to bolster each other up in faith, and focus more on the state of our own salvation rather than looking always at others. We don’t need to judge each other–in fact, we’re not fit to do so. God’s perfectly capable of doing that when the time comes.