"The Sidewalk To Nowhere"

"Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men." Isaiah 29:13

Recently, we took a trip and at the hotel we stayed in there was a sidewalk that was in the middle of the yard. It looked very odd because it was just there. It wasn't attached to anything. It wasn't a path that led you from one building to another. The function of a sidewalk is to be a path that leads you to somewhere else. I called it the "sidewalk to nowhere" because it did not take you anywhere-- it just ended. Something that I noticed about this sidewalk was that it looked to be in good condition. It was well kept-- the grass was mowed and weeded around it. It was obvious that the ground's keeper has not ignored it.

The more I thought about this oddity, the more it made me think about people who are religious. Their lives are like this "sidewalk". They look good. They look like they have a purpose. Their religious appearance is well maintained-- they go to church, they give alms, they quote the scriptures, they sing in the choir, they have been baptized-- they do all their religious duties. But the trouble with religion only is that like this sidewalk, they aren't attached to anything.

Jesus died so that we can have a relationship with the Heavenly Father. He did not die to give us another religion. Religion does not attach you to Jesus. It does not bring you into a relationship with God, therefore, your life is like an unattached sidewalk that looks good and looks well-kept but is a dead end and just there.

Without a relationship with the Father through Jesus the Son, our lives are like this sidewalk, if we stay on it it will keep us going nowhere. We will be spending our time, energy, strength and effort going back and forth and back and forth over the same path and never getting anywhere-- kind of like the Israelites in the wilderness who went around and around the same mountain over and over again but never got anywhere. Without a relationship with Jesus, not only are we like a disconnected path that goes nowhere, we can't lead anyone else to Jesus and eternal life. If they follow our lives they will find themselves on a path that goes nowhere except back and forth, unattached to anything.

Is your life like the sidewalk that leads to nowhere? You look good but are not attached to Jesus. Are you religious but don't have a relationship that attaches you to Him?

Have a great day. Religion will take you nowhere. Having a relationship with Jesus will take you to the Heavenly Father and eternal life.

For further reading:

Matthew 7:21,22
Luke 6:46
Ephesians 2:8,9

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Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell

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