All in vain? - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2024

You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven.
1 Thessalonians 1: 9.10.

All in vain?
A missionary sent in this report:

"In the hinterland of India I once entered a heathen monastery. The aged leader there asked me to read to him from the New Testament. I started with the gospel of Matthew and soon came to a passage that needed some explanation. The elderly priest raised his hand dismissively, saying, "Stop! I only want to hear what the book says not what you say." So I continued reading for two or three hours. The priest did not tire of listening.

The next morning I went back to him. To my astonishment he was a changed man. He sat before me depressed and taciturn. I asked what the matter was. He pointed to the many idols and oblations and explained dismally, "Sir, can you see all that? For eighty years I have been collecting to get all these treasures together. Must I let them all go? If I act according to your book, I must give them up and throw all away. Was the effort of those years all vain? Not only that: I have to become another person. No, sir, I cannot and will not hear anything more from your book. Go away!"

That man was so proud of all the effort he had taken building up his collection, thinking he was doing God a great service thereby. He trusted in his own achievement and therefore rejected the One who could truly lead him to God: the Saviour Jesus Christ.

Dear reader, have you been reading our daily messages this year, only to come to the same conclusion as that priest? Read the Bible and decide what you are going to trust: the Son of God, or you own religious efforts?

Today‘s reading: Ezekiel 48: 1 - 19 · Psalms 149: 1 - 9