How can religion be futile?

1 Samuel 12:21“Don’t go back to worshiping worthless idols that cannot help or rescue you—they are totally useless!”

1 Kings 18:25-27Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “You go first, for there are many of you. Choose one of the bulls, and prepare it and call on the name of your god. But do not set fire to the wood.” So they prepared one of the bulls and placed it on the altar. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning until noontime, shouting, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no reply of any kind. Then they danced, hobbling around the altar they had made. About noontime Elijah began mocking them. “You’ll have to shout louder,” he scoffed, “for surely he is a god! Perhaps he is daydreaming, or is relieving himself. Or maybe he is away on a trip, or is asleep and needs to be wakened!”

Psalm 31:6I hate those who worship worthless idols. I trust in the Lord.

Psalm 115:4-5Their idols are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands. They have mouths but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see.

Jeremiah 2:5This is what the Lord says: “What did your ancestors find wrong with me that led them to stray so far from me? They worshiped worthless idols, only to become worthless themselves.”

Jeremiah 10:3-5, 8, 14-15Their ways are futile and foolish. They cut down a tree, and a craftsman carves an idol. They decorate it with gold and silver and then fasten it securely with hammer and nails so it won’t fall over. Their gods are like helpless scarecrows in a cucumber field! They cannot speak, and they need to be carried because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of such gods, for they can neither harm you nor do you any good.” . . . People who worship idols are stupid and foolish. The things they worship are made of wood! . . . The whole human race is foolish and has no knowledge! The craftsmen are disgraced by the idols they make, for their carefully shaped works are a fraud. These idols have no breath or power. Idols are worthless; they are ridiculous lies! On the day of reckoning they will all be destroyed.

Jeremiah 16:19Lord, you are my strength and fortress, my refuge in the day of trouble! Nations from around the world will come to you and say, “Our ancestors left us a foolish heritage, for they worshiped worthless idols.”

Worshiping anything or anyone other than God is futile. We may not have physical idols made of wood or stone, but anything we put in God’s place is an idol (people, career, possessions, self). All idols are worthless. Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship with the God who created us.

Isaiah 1:13“Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts; the incense of your offerings disgusts me! As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath and your special days for fasting—they are all sinful and false. I want no more of your pious meetings.”

Hosea 6:6“I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.”

Matthew 15:8-9“‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’”

Mark 12:33“I [a teacher of religious law] know it is important to love him [God] with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.”

James 1:26-27If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

Faithless religion is futile. If we truly believe in God, love him, and seek to worship him, our hearts and our actions should move in response. Religious language and ceremonies that fail to inspire genuine love and obedience are worthless in God’s sight. What is the point of going through the motions if we don’t believe enough to truly change our lives?

Colossians 2:20-23You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”? Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.

Legalism (following rules to try to please God) is futile, because it emphasizes rules over relationship. When we spend more time trying to obey rules instead of nurturing our relationship with God, we miss the point, and our faith begins to seem futile.

Matthew 23:25-26“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too.”

No matter how much we polish our outward behavior and appearance, our efforts are futile without God’s Spirit changing us on the inside.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

If we do good and positive actions for the wrong reasons, our lives are futile. God made us to love, and until we do, we cannot please him and we cannot find joy ourselves.

Isaiah 8:19-22Someone may say to you, “Let’s ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do.” But shouldn’t people ask God for guidance? Should the living seek guidance from the dead? Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark. They will go from one place to another, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rage and curse their king and their God. They will look up to heaven and down at the earth, but wherever they look, there will be trouble and anguish and dark despair. They will be thrown out into the darkness.

Zechariah 10:2Household gods give worthless advice, fortune-tellers predict only lies, and interpreters of dreams pronounce falsehoods that give no comfort. So my people are wandering like lost sheep; they are attacked because they have no shepherd.

Trying to see the future through fortune-telling or the occult is futile, for only God knows and controls the future.

Matthew 7:26-27“But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

Matthew 13:19-22“The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts. The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word. The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced.”

Hebrews 4:2This good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God.

James 1:22-24Don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.

Hearing God’s Word without responding and obeying is futile. We have been given a great gift—the only way to true meaning and satisfaction.

John 15:5“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”

1 Corinthians 3:12-15Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.

Our service without God’s presence is futile—mere busyness. God is not here to bless whatever we choose to do. Instead, we are called to build and grow according to his direction and design. Only in that, will we be blessed.

James 2:20How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?

Faith without worthy actions is futile, because without action our faith is only superficial. It doesn’t affect us deeply enough to inspire action. Genuine faith produces a heart-felt response.