Reaching for Heaven: Simeon Stylites & Asceticism

READ: COLOSSIANS 1:13-14, 21-22; 2:2-8, 16-23; 3:5-17; 4:2-6

We’re all faced with the temptation to try to look godly to those around us. We might go to church, volunteer to pray, pray before every meal, refuse to use certain words, and the list could go on. But does a list of actions truly reflect how close we are to God?

Fairly early on in Christianity, a trend toward something called asceticism arose. Asceticism is the belief that the strict discipline of bodily pleasures is key to growing closer to God: the more you resist earthly comforts or pleasures, the more holy you are considered to be.

During the 400s AD, an ascetic monk by the name of Simeon Stylites believed in asceticism so strongly that he climbed on top of an old pillar and chose to live on its square surface, which would’ve been about a meter wide, for almost forty years. People flocked to ask for his advice or just to see the spectacle. Simeon Stylites kept moving to pillars that were taller and taller, and by the end of his life, the pillar he was living on was fifty feet high! Simeon believed the further he removed himself from the physical comforts of this earth, the closer he would be to God.

According to the book of Colossians, Paul actually teaches the opposite. When referring to ascetic practices, Paul says they “have an appearance of wisdom” but are in fact worthless (Colossians 2:23). Following God isn’t about making ourselves look godly on the outside—it’s about relying on Jesus. He is the only one who can save us and help us grow in relationship with God.

As we rest in Jesus and His work on the cross, we remember that we belong to Him and nothing can take us out of His hands (John 10:27-30). That living on top of a pillar won’t make God love us any more or any less (Matthew 11:28; Ephesians 2:8-10). And that Jesus has already done everything needed to bring us close to God (Colossians 1:13-14, 21-22). • Jonathon Fuller

• Can you think of anything you might do because you believe it will make Jesus love you more?

• Read Romans 8:38-39. In Christ, can anything separate you from God’s love or thwart His promises to save you? (For more about the good news of Jesus, see our "Know Jesus" page.)

Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. Colossians 2:23 (NIV)