“Nothing From Nothing Leaves… Nothing!”

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results.” Tony Robbins said, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got!”  It is insane to do the same thing over and over again knowing it has never worked out well before, but thinking maybe this time will be different…  Like I said, “Nothing for Nothing Leaves… Nothing!” Jesus said, “If new wine is put into old wineskins, then the new wine will burst the wineskin, and both will be lost.” Follow me I’m going somewhere with this.  The reason the old bag could not contain the new wine was that it had already held wine, and had already been stretched as far as it was going to be stretched. It had become dry and cracked and inflexible. It simply could not withstand going through that expansion and fermentation all over again! Jesus said that instead, anyone making wine would see to it that it was poured into a new, fresh wineskin… In other words, “…forget the former things… God is always doing something NEW! His works of grace are always NEW and FRESH!

You know it is so easy as a Christian to get into a rut; to always sing the same songs, always read the same Bible verses, always associate with the same people, and always do the same things – never being challenged by Christ to venture out into the unknown to experience the untold blessings God has reserved for us. We hear about the riches in glory in Christ Jesus but we never really experience them because we are afraid to take a step in a direction we’ve never been before. But to change the results you have to change the path. Different results require different action. If you are going to receive the answer God has for you, you are going to have to do what he says, when he says it and where he says to do it.  You see, in your relationship with God success follows obedience, even when what God is asking you do to seem ridiculous to you. Let me remind you that you are not smarter than God. You can’t keep doing the same things and expect different results. You can’t rebel against God, go against what he is telling you, and expect success. You can’t do all the wrong things and expect good things to happen. It doesn’t happen that way. Success comes as you are willing to listen to Jesus and do what he says. This involves humility. The disciples were professional fishermen. They knew all about fishing, so they had to be humble enough to do what Jesus said rather than trusting what they had personally learned about fishing. If you are going to fish, you have to put down your net where the fish are. I told you I was going somewhere with this.

If we seek first God’s Kingdom, his rule and his values, then our current crises fall into perspective. Whenever you want to see a different result, a positive change, you have to do something different from whatever you are currently doing. God’s indwelling grace is active. It leads you and influences you. It brings change to you and within you. When I experience difficulties in my life and in the world around me and the questions I ask leave me empty handed, I find there is always one question that jolts me back to reality similar to the one Jesus ask Peter in Matthew 16:13-20: Who do you say that I am? And Peter responds: You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.” Bottom line: Jesus is God. God is at work. God has not abandoned his people. God has done what God had promised. God is with us! What we have to remember is that God has the blueprint for our whole life already… All we have to do is just fit in with His plans for our lives. There are only two choices in life. Having God to order our steps in His will, or ordering our own steps by our own will.  And we all know what Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25 tells us, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death….. “Nothing for Nothing Leaves… Nothing!”

Now the Bible talks about divine direction in the Scriptures. And the declaration of Scripture is that God cares about each of us and wants to direct our lives. Our responsibility by God’s own direction is to entrust our way to Him for His direction and leading. Only the eternal God who is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, has the infinite wisdom and power, love and mercy needed to direct the affairs of man’s life. We need to understand that God’s leading is always right. And when you allow the Lord to lead you and guide you there will be peace. There will be power. There will be victory. There will be joy. When you allow the Lord to order your steps, lead you and guide you, you will have something to shout about, because when the Lord order your steps, you will be blessed going in and blessed coming out. You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field. When you allow the Lord to order yours steps, you will be the head and not the tail, you will be above and not beneath. Why would we want it any other way? I tell you, “Nothing from Nothing Leaves… Nothing!”

Author: Lou Coleman