Not a Little Something

All world religions aim to make their disciples good enough to get to heaven. All, that is, but one. While behavior determines ultimate destiny in all other religions, something else is at work in Christianity. All other worldviews count on you to do the right thing; Christianity doesn't. That's because a fundamental premise of Christianity is that you, on your own, are entirely incapable. And that's not hyperbole.

Jesus said it. "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). Look at that. He didn't say, "You're limited in what you can do." He didn't say, "There's not a lot you can do." He said, "Apart from Me you can do nothing." That's not a little something. Now, maybe we could mitigate that. That's not what He meant. That kind of thing. But Paul said of God in his speech to the Athenians "in Him we live and move and exist" (Acts 17:29). Or, in the negative, "Without whom we do not live, move, or exist." He told the Colossians, "He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together" (Col 1:17). Nothing exists without Him. He told the Romans, "From Him and through Him and to Him are all things" (Rom 11:36). He is the source, the conduit, and the endpoint of everything. "Apart from Me you can do nothing" was not hyperbole. It was simple fact.

Whether we are rank heathens or dedicated believers, we're generally pretty sure we're doing okay. We're not bad people. We're pretty good. Comparing ourselves among ourselves, we can always find people worse than we are and we're not so bad. Christ classified that as "nothing." Our only hope is in Him. Our only option to get beyond "nothing" is to remain in Him. Without Him we're not a little something; we're nothing.