{"id":3672,"date":"2018-10-02T22:04:15","date_gmt":"2018-10-02T22:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=3672"},"modified":"2026-02-20T19:43:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T19:43:13","slug":"vain-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=3672","title":{"rendered":"Vain Things"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">[<strong>Note: <\/strong>This MS is available in<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>larger font on our <b>Brief Articles 3\u00a0<\/b><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">page.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><em>Vain<\/em> is capable of two distinct meanings, depending upon context. When used in reference to a person, <em>vain<\/em> refers to a conceited, narcissistic, arrogant, or proud attitude. <em>Vain action<\/em>, however, refers to futile, ineffective, worthless, or unavailing effort.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The New Testament describes various behaviors\/entities that are vain\u2014they are thereby a waste of both time and effort with eternal consequences. A review of some of these is instructive.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Worship may be vain<\/strong>: \u201cBut in vain do they worship me, teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men\u201d (Mat. 15:9). Many assume God is pleased to accept anything in worship they offer\u2014as long as they are sincere in doing so. Clearly, this is not so, as important as sincerity is. We must offer in worship only that which the New Testament authorizes, or our worship is unacceptable to God, thus meaningless. It must be \u201cin spirit and truth\u201d (John 4:23\u201324).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Grace may be vain:<\/strong> \u201c\u2026His grace which was bestowed upon me was not found vain\u201d (1 Cor. 15:10). This assurance was so because of Paul\u2019s unfailing obedience and loyalty to the Christ. Had he (or indeed anyone have backslidden and not repented once he received God\u2019s grace in the forgiveness of his sins, God\u2019s original bestowal of grace would have been to no avail (2 Cor. 6:1). One who has received God\u2019s grace in salvation may so behave as to forfeit it and be lost (cf. Gal. 5:4).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Idolatry is vain: <\/strong>Paul called the idols worshiped by the people of Lystra \u201cthese vain things\u201d (Acts 14:15). Just as the idols of the ancient world could neither hear, see, speak, nor act, so the idols of the modern world are likewise lifeless creations of men. To bow before such senseless imagined gods is to worship the creature rather than the Creator and to practice folly while professing wisdom (Rom. 1:19\u201323).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Religion may be vain: <\/strong>One who professes Christianity apart from its daily practice of such things as tongue control, mercy toward the helpless, and purity of life engages in \u201cvain religion\u201d (Jam. 1:26\u201327). Such practitioners are hypocrites who waste their time in pretense, deceiving themselves as well as others\u2014but not God.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Labor may be vain: <\/strong>\u201c\u2026Your labor is not vain in the Lord\u201d (1 Cor. 15:58b). <em>In the Lord<\/em> means as authorized in His Word. Just as He does not accept all worship, He does not accept all our work. Merely pronouncing His name over an act does not result in His approval. All such labor will be found vain at the Judgment (Mat. 7:21\u201323).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">All that will matter when we stand before the Lord Jesus in Judgment will be whether our lives have proved worthwhile or vain to Him, learned only from His Word, the New Testament.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">[<strong>Note:<\/strong> I wrote this article for and it was published in the <em>Denton Record-Chronicle, <\/em>Denton, TX, September 2, 2016.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Attribution:<\/strong> From <em>www.thescripturecache.com<\/em>; Dub McClish, proprietor, curator, and administrator.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 0[Note: This MS is available in\u00a0larger font on our Brief Articles 3\u00a0page.] Vain is capable of two distinct meanings, depending upon context. When used in reference to a person, vain refers to a conceited, narcissistic, arrogant, or proud attitude. Vain action, however, refers to&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"easywp-readmore\"><a class=\"read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=3672\">Continue Reading&#8230;<span class=\"easywp-sr-only\">  Vain Things<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,65,200,44,96,177,202,154,112],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commitment","category-dedication","category-worship-of","category-grace","category-idolatry","category-paganism","category-practice-of","category-sincerity","category-truth","wpcat-66-id","wpcat-65-id","wpcat-200-id","wpcat-44-id","wpcat-96-id","wpcat-177-id","wpcat-202-id","wpcat-154-id","wpcat-112-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3672"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24199,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3672\/revisions\/24199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}