Quiet Fire Devotional | Life Without Jesus

Life Without Jesus

Life without Jesus is like watching a film with the sound turned off. The images may flicker across the screen, and you may grasp fragments of the story, yet the most vital element—the voice, the music, the meaning—is absent. So it is with life apart from Christ: we walk through days filled with activity, but we lack the sound of eternity calling us home.

Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Without Him, life is not life—it is merely existence.

That sound—the sound of hope—is only heard in Him. It is the guiding melody that carries us through the grueling test of endurance we call life. Without it, the world becomes a place of shadows, dark and indistinct. Humanity has lost sight of its true identity: men and women fashioned in the very image of God (Genesis 1:27). Instead, many wander with minds debased, having traded truth for lies. “God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done” (Romans 1:28).

What a tragedy—to sprint through life, clutching at fleeting pleasures and fragile successes, only to discover at the end that every decision apart from Christ was a step toward ruin. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Proverbs 14:12). That is horror. That is eternal. And—most crucially—that is avoidable.

For you do not belong to yourself. “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). You belong to the God who formed you wonderfully and purposefully—to bear His image, to reflect His glory in the world. Jesus Christ, the very image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), came in the flesh to show us what we were created for.

And if you feel the ache in your heart—the gnawing emptiness that lingers even in moments of supposed joy—know this: it is the echo of your soul’s hunger for its Creator. “He has put eternity into man’s heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). You may bury it beneath pride, ambition, or distraction; you may deny it in the name of self-dependence; but the void remains. That emptiness is God’s mercy, drawing you back.

Our age worships the self. It bows at the altar of influence, relevance, and ego. Yet Christ calls us to something infinitely greater: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). This is the narrow way.

Yes, the broad road is intoxicating. “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:13–14). Sin often delights before it destroys, but its end is always death (Romans 6:23).

From the very beginning, God has revealed Himself through His creation, His Word, and His Son. “For what can be known about God is plain… ever since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes—namely, His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly perceived” (Romans 1:19–20). Even now, the saints who walked before us and the hosts of heaven bear witness to our lives (Hebrews 12:1).

And so I ask: what if the new and challenging thing you are searching for is not in chasing more of the world, but in surrendering to the One who made it?

Following Jesus is not the end of your story—it is the discovery that you are already living in the greatest story ever told. With Him, every fragment of your life takes on meaning. Without Him, everything—success, pleasure, knowledge—remains a silent film.

Science may explain the how, but only God explains the why. And the why is love. The why is redemption. The why is Jesus Christ.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Take a step onto the narrow way. Open His Word. Ask Him to reveal Himself to you. And watch—watch as your life gains not only sight, but sound.