I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me.     John 15:5 HCSB

Are you trying to live your life without God? Has God gotten in your way? Does going to church take too much time out of your busy schedule? Do prayer and Bible study take more time than you have during the day? Or perhaps you just feel you can’t enjoy your life while trying to be obedient to God.

Many of us think we can do just fine without God. Or we think we can put Him in a little box in the corner of our lives and pull Him out as needed. It just doesn’t work that way, my friend.

In our Scripture passage for today, Jesus explains our need for Him as a branch needs the vine. We know that if a branch is pulled or cut from a vine, it can’t survive. We still tend to believe, however, that we can do just fine without God being first in our lives. Note, I did not say without God, but without Him being first in our lives. Of course, some believe they do just fine without Him. But because He is our life source, we can do nothing apart from Him. We can’t breathe unless He allows us to do so. We rely on Him for life. God knew before we were born when we would die. He knows everything about us.

If you believe you can live without Him, you clearly know nothing about Him. I strongly encourage you to learn all there is to know about Him. You will encounter false teachers, and you can’t discern that they are false teachers if you don’t know the truth about God. How do we get to know the truth about God? We get to know all about Him by studying His word.

Many have the false belief that God is such a loving God, He won’t really punish us for our sins. The Bible shows numerous instances where God punishes people for their sinful behavior. We are told in Proverbs 13:24 that whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.

Hebrews 12:5, “My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly or faint when you are reproved by Him, for the Lord disciplines the one He loves and punishes every son He receives.”

We need God in our lives. We need his love, and we need His correction. He corrects us out of love. He wants us to do well and spend eternity with Him in heaven. And this is really what it’s all about. If you try to live your life without God here on earth, you will spend eternity without him in hell.

While you live on Earth, you have the chance to connect with Him and be in a loving, committed relationship with Him. But once we leave here, we no longer have a choice. We will either spend eternity with Him or without Him.

You must make this decision today, because none of us is guaranteed tomorrow.

I’ll leave you with this: do you think you have a relationship with God but have little time to pray, study His word, and serve Him? Do you think you are doing just fine without Him? If so, you are fooling yourself. We need God. He is our source of life. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father except through Me.”

If you are trying to live a life without God, you are setting yourself up for an eternity in hell. It’s that simple.

I beg of you to turn to God, ask Him to come into your life and fill your heart with His Holy Spirit before it’s too late.

Have a great day!