“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.” (Ephesians 4:17–18, ESV)
The definition of futility is “uselessness” or “pointlessness”. If something is futile, it is useless to have it or utilize it or think it. No matter how much time and effort you put into something that is futile, it will produce nothing than can help the present situation. If you spend a lot of time on something futile, you will ultimately waste your time and energy and maybe money on something that cannot help. It is foolhardy or counterintuitive to waste your effort on something that is futile.
The following story is a humorous anecdote on futility. “One night a thief broke into the single-room apartment of French novelist Honore de Balzac. Trying to avoid waking Balzac, the intruder quietly picked the lock on the writer's desk. Suddenly the silence was broken by a sardonic laugh from the bed, where Balzac lay watching the thief.
"Why do you laugh"? asked the thief.
"I am laughing to think what risks you take to try to find money in a desk by night where the legal owner can never find any by day.” (“Today in the Word”, November 6, 1993)
During that time in his life, Balzac had no extra money. The thief did not know that. Balzac found it very humorous that the thief was “wasting his time” in the futile attempt to look for money from a destitute man. The thief had no idea the break-in was pointless. Balzac knew for certain it to be a wasted effort.
There are things in your life that will also be a wasted effort. You may put hours and hours into futile thinking or actions. Do you recognize when you are wasting valuable time or money in futility? For example, have you ever worried over and over about “what-ifs” in a situation that hasn’t even occurred yet? That thinking is futile. Did you ever try to “fix” a person, making them think or do what you want? It doesn’t work. You don’t have the control or ability to fix another person. Have you ever worried for hours about something beyond your control? That is an exercise in futility. If you cannot control something, why are you trying to find ways to control it?
There are also many who put forth tons of wasted effort in spiritual futility (Ephesians 4:17). The scripture for today contains Paul’s observation that Gentiles rejected godly thinking. Because they refused to include the possibility that Almighty God has control in this world, their understanding was “darkened” (Ephesians 4:18). They were "in the dark", so to speak. Their rejection of God and godly ways forced them to find answers to life that didn't include God. According to Paul, that was an example of futility. Those who reject the possibility of God being in control are doomed to the “futility of their minds”. They can make all the plans and arrangements and decisions they wish, but they will never amount to anything fruitful and eternal. If God is removed from thoughtful consideration in your life, futile thinking will take over.
I have seen many people, Christians and non-Christians alike, who got lost in futile thinking. They spent hours and money and time and effort on things that didn't matter in the long run. They wasted their God-given hours and days caught up in worldly pursuits that won’t matter in eternity. They might have acted religiously, but their efforts never amounted to anything for God.
Latisha loves God. She attends church regularly and is generous in her giving. She is caring and compassionate and forgiving. But, much of Latisha’s time in prayer is futile. Rather than growing closer to God, Latisha’s prayers leave her empty. Latisha always and without fail prays every morning. When doing so, she reads a prayer from a book of prayers. While reading, she doesn’t ponder the meaning of her words. She doesn’t look for the spiritual meaning of that time. If you ask Latisha what she read, she will have to look back and reread it. She has little to no comprehension of what she is reading. She believes that by simply saying those words, her relationship with God will grow. She even has deluded herself into believing that her prayers will make her more precious in God’s sight. Because she prays every day, she has convinced herself that she is a good Christian and will go to heaven. Is this what defines a faithful Christian who knows God?
I can give you a number of examples where God rejected the prayers of those in the Bible who were going through the motions or sinning while praying. If you use your prayer time only to read someone else’s carefully written words, it is not really a prayer. Prayer is conversation WITH God. It is not a time to merely recite words. It is time to think and speak them to God and to listen for God’s response. The words of prayers in a printed book don’t have magical properties. They can’t magically make you holy or faithful or right in the eyes of God all by themselves. If it were so, you could recite a “Hail Mary”, and you would magically have all your sins forgiven and make a place for yourself in Heaven. That’s not how faith works. Faith is not magical, it is holy. It is not determined by your words alone but by all your actions and thoughts and beliefs as well. Ultimately, your faith is judged by God. Printed words can never replace God. You can’t fake your way into Heaven.
There are other ways even serious Christians can spiritually be caught up in the “futility of their minds”. If you spend hours and hours pondering if you’ll be forgiven by God or if you’ll go to Heaven, you are wasting your time. You can’t make God forgive you. You can’t force God to accept you into Heaven. You only can submit to God and place your faith in God thereafter. Some Christians play the “what-if” game for hours and hours. “What if God doesn’t love me?” “What will I do if so-and-so doesn’t forgive me?” “Will God forgive me?” “What if I think a sinful thought a second before I die?” “When will I see God?” You can spend hours and hours contemplating so many things of the faith without any definite answers. Is that how God wants you to spend your time when there are souls that need the gospel and missions needing workers?
As another example of futile religious thinking, some Christians get all caught up in human faith traditions and rules. Jesus ran into this with the Pharisees. The Pharisees emphasized the importance of the words of the law while ignoring the meaning of the law. They spent centuries determining how many steps you could walk on a Sabbath day, whether you could pull an ox out of a pit on the Sabbath day, and so much more. They, in all futility, felt that they could make a law for every situation. They also deluded themselves into thinking that if you followed the letter of every law, you could go to Heaven. In essence, these laws became what they worshipped. Somewhere along the way, they made the law divine and tossed away God’s ultimate sovereignty over every situation of life. Do you ever get all worked up over the letter of the law and ignore God’s purpose in the law?
I have met Christians who spent way too much time on things that don’t matter ultimately to God. One church in Pennsylvania fought over how much silverware to keep in the church kitchen. Another church in Missouri spent hours determining whether a chandelier was appropriate for an entryway to the sanctuary. The committee involved considered that the type of chandelier you bought ultimately determined whether you were faithful in God’s eyes.
The Apostle Paul believed that faithful people should not get all caught up on futile thinking. Even religious futile thinking is a waste of valuable time and effort. In your spiritual life, keep your mind and heart and soul and thoughts focused on the will of God. Don’t get so caught up in the details of life that you miss the big picture of God’s perspective. Don’t think things to death. Don’t make little issues into big ones. Don’t worry about those things with which you have no control. Deal with those things God wishes you to deal with. Trust the Lord for the rest. Life is too short to spend long moments analyzing to death things that ultimately will have no bearing on your relationship with God.
The following story is a humorous anecdote on futility. “One night a thief broke into the single-room apartment of French novelist Honore de Balzac. Trying to avoid waking Balzac, the intruder quietly picked the lock on the writer's desk. Suddenly the silence was broken by a sardonic laugh from the bed, where Balzac lay watching the thief.
"Why do you laugh"? asked the thief.
"I am laughing to think what risks you take to try to find money in a desk by night where the legal owner can never find any by day.” (“Today in the Word”, November 6, 1993)
During that time in his life, Balzac had no extra money. The thief did not know that. Balzac found it very humorous that the thief was “wasting his time” in the futile attempt to look for money from a destitute man. The thief had no idea the break-in was pointless. Balzac knew for certain it to be a wasted effort.
There are things in your life that will also be a wasted effort. You may put hours and hours into futile thinking or actions. Do you recognize when you are wasting valuable time or money in futility? For example, have you ever worried over and over about “what-ifs” in a situation that hasn’t even occurred yet? That thinking is futile. Did you ever try to “fix” a person, making them think or do what you want? It doesn’t work. You don’t have the control or ability to fix another person. Have you ever worried for hours about something beyond your control? That is an exercise in futility. If you cannot control something, why are you trying to find ways to control it?
There are also many who put forth tons of wasted effort in spiritual futility (Ephesians 4:17). The scripture for today contains Paul’s observation that Gentiles rejected godly thinking. Because they refused to include the possibility that Almighty God has control in this world, their understanding was “darkened” (Ephesians 4:18). They were "in the dark", so to speak. Their rejection of God and godly ways forced them to find answers to life that didn't include God. According to Paul, that was an example of futility. Those who reject the possibility of God being in control are doomed to the “futility of their minds”. They can make all the plans and arrangements and decisions they wish, but they will never amount to anything fruitful and eternal. If God is removed from thoughtful consideration in your life, futile thinking will take over.
I have seen many people, Christians and non-Christians alike, who got lost in futile thinking. They spent hours and money and time and effort on things that didn't matter in the long run. They wasted their God-given hours and days caught up in worldly pursuits that won’t matter in eternity. They might have acted religiously, but their efforts never amounted to anything for God.
Latisha loves God. She attends church regularly and is generous in her giving. She is caring and compassionate and forgiving. But, much of Latisha’s time in prayer is futile. Rather than growing closer to God, Latisha’s prayers leave her empty. Latisha always and without fail prays every morning. When doing so, she reads a prayer from a book of prayers. While reading, she doesn’t ponder the meaning of her words. She doesn’t look for the spiritual meaning of that time. If you ask Latisha what she read, she will have to look back and reread it. She has little to no comprehension of what she is reading. She believes that by simply saying those words, her relationship with God will grow. She even has deluded herself into believing that her prayers will make her more precious in God’s sight. Because she prays every day, she has convinced herself that she is a good Christian and will go to heaven. Is this what defines a faithful Christian who knows God?
I can give you a number of examples where God rejected the prayers of those in the Bible who were going through the motions or sinning while praying. If you use your prayer time only to read someone else’s carefully written words, it is not really a prayer. Prayer is conversation WITH God. It is not a time to merely recite words. It is time to think and speak them to God and to listen for God’s response. The words of prayers in a printed book don’t have magical properties. They can’t magically make you holy or faithful or right in the eyes of God all by themselves. If it were so, you could recite a “Hail Mary”, and you would magically have all your sins forgiven and make a place for yourself in Heaven. That’s not how faith works. Faith is not magical, it is holy. It is not determined by your words alone but by all your actions and thoughts and beliefs as well. Ultimately, your faith is judged by God. Printed words can never replace God. You can’t fake your way into Heaven.
There are other ways even serious Christians can spiritually be caught up in the “futility of their minds”. If you spend hours and hours pondering if you’ll be forgiven by God or if you’ll go to Heaven, you are wasting your time. You can’t make God forgive you. You can’t force God to accept you into Heaven. You only can submit to God and place your faith in God thereafter. Some Christians play the “what-if” game for hours and hours. “What if God doesn’t love me?” “What will I do if so-and-so doesn’t forgive me?” “Will God forgive me?” “What if I think a sinful thought a second before I die?” “When will I see God?” You can spend hours and hours contemplating so many things of the faith without any definite answers. Is that how God wants you to spend your time when there are souls that need the gospel and missions needing workers?
As another example of futile religious thinking, some Christians get all caught up in human faith traditions and rules. Jesus ran into this with the Pharisees. The Pharisees emphasized the importance of the words of the law while ignoring the meaning of the law. They spent centuries determining how many steps you could walk on a Sabbath day, whether you could pull an ox out of a pit on the Sabbath day, and so much more. They, in all futility, felt that they could make a law for every situation. They also deluded themselves into thinking that if you followed the letter of every law, you could go to Heaven. In essence, these laws became what they worshipped. Somewhere along the way, they made the law divine and tossed away God’s ultimate sovereignty over every situation of life. Do you ever get all worked up over the letter of the law and ignore God’s purpose in the law?
I have met Christians who spent way too much time on things that don’t matter ultimately to God. One church in Pennsylvania fought over how much silverware to keep in the church kitchen. Another church in Missouri spent hours determining whether a chandelier was appropriate for an entryway to the sanctuary. The committee involved considered that the type of chandelier you bought ultimately determined whether you were faithful in God’s eyes.
The Apostle Paul believed that faithful people should not get all caught up on futile thinking. Even religious futile thinking is a waste of valuable time and effort. In your spiritual life, keep your mind and heart and soul and thoughts focused on the will of God. Don’t get so caught up in the details of life that you miss the big picture of God’s perspective. Don’t think things to death. Don’t make little issues into big ones. Don’t worry about those things with which you have no control. Deal with those things God wishes you to deal with. Trust the Lord for the rest. Life is too short to spend long moments analyzing to death things that ultimately will have no bearing on your relationship with God.