Daily Devotions
Life Without Jesus
Reading for November 20th: Acts 18-20
Weekly reading for November 15-21: John 11-15
...apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:5
This seems like an odd statement for Jesus to make. Look around and you witness people doing lots of things in this life without Jesus in their life; they learn, build, achieve, grow, and provide for themselves quite well.
But all of this activity is for naught. It is like the hamster running the treadmill in his cage. It may feel (in the moment) like these things matter. It may feel (in the moment) like these things have lasting value. But it is all meaningless.
All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:8-9
The world will tell you that if you go to the right school or buy the right product or find the right mate or choose the right diet or adopt the right philosophy that you'll find satisfaction. DON'T BELIEVE IT! It is yet another lie from the Devil. Whatever he gives you will look bright and sparkly, but don't take it... it is fool's gold.
Listen to what Jesus is telling you and me in this verse. He is not an egomaniac. He is saying this for our benefit. Jesus doesn't want us to waste our time on things that don't matter. He wants us to concentrate our energies into our relationship with Him. If we fail to abide in Him, nothing we do makes any difference at all.
Father, help us to see the vanity of all we do apart from Jesus. Teach us to find purpose and meaning in all that we do by focusing all our attention on a relationship with Him.
