Pictures

My screensaver on my phone is a picture of my wife. Sometimes I click the power button on my phone just so that it will light up and I can see her face. But when my wife walks in the room, I put the phone down. Imagine how silly it would be if she came up for a smootch, but instead of embracing my wife in real life, I pull out my phone and kiss the photo!
That would be offensive to her. My wife wants our relationship to be deep and meaningful, with real communication and affection. 

Sadly, this is exactly how many people treat their relationship with God. They grab ahold of pictures instead of experiencing Him for real. That’s why Colossians 2:17 says, ““So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.”
Colossians 2:16-17
It really is a danger that some people will never let go of those things that are just a shadow, or a picture, of what a real relationship with God is supposed to look like. Jesus stands at the door and is available, yet many would rather hold onto rituals and religious ceremony rather than experience the reality of His presence.

People who lack the reality of a vibrant spiritual walk with God tend to gravitate towards legalism. This condition is worse than if they completely rejected the truth of God altogether. For their outward observances are the deadly opiate by which they console themselves that all is well.
Can you imagine how terrible it will be for the multitudes who protest on the last day, “Did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not do this and that in your name? Didn’t we do many wonderful works?” Only to hear the sobering words, “I never KNEW you.” Matt7:23

Do you know the Lord?
“And this is eternal life, that the might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” John 17:3