Faithful…and Fruitful
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
I’m sure you’ve heard that quote, which has been especially popular among politicians, and is often attributed to the brilliant physicist Albert Einstein, but he is never actually quoted anywhere as having said it.
The first clue that it wasn't Einstein is that the quote doesn't even appear anywhere until the 1980's and he died in 1955. The first place it shows up is in a Narcotics Anonymous pamphlet in 1981, albeit in a slightly different format: “Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.” The quote that is most repeated today first appeared in the 1983 novel "Sudden Death," written by a mystery writer named Rita Mae Brown.
The closest thing Einstein ever said to that quote was this: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." Of course Einstein did not believe in the inherent unpredictability of the world, and actually did say this familiar quote: “God does not play dice.” Yet even when we roll dice, we do the same thing over and over and we correctly anticipate different results. Is it really insane to play dice? Does that mean I am crazy if I play Monopoly?
But here’s my point. It may be a catchy thing to say, but I don’t think it’s always true. In fact, I’m quite sure that "insanity" itself would be defined quite differently than that. And I can assure you if you are ever charged with a crime, and for your defense you tell the judge that you often do the same thing over and over, expecting different results, that he will not let you off as not guilty by reason of insanity.
The reality is, we all do lots of things in life, over and over, and we expect different outcomes, and that’s not crazy at all. It’s actually necessary sometimes, as we are learning things, and building positive habits into our lives. If you are a musician learning a piece of music, you play the same song over and over, making mistakes along the way, and you expect to get a little better each time. If you are a golfer, you address the same ball, with the same swing, and you hope you have different results than you just had a minute or too earlier with your last shot. If you are shooting a target, you are doing the same thing, but you know that there WILL be different results with each shot.
I was thinking of this idea as I prepared last week's message on fruit-bearing. I specifically stated on Sunday that "being faithful is the key to the process of being fruitful." And by that I was trying to communicate that a life of steady consistency and persistence is required for a long-term "productive life" that produces spiritual produce. Sometimes, very basically, faithfulness requires you to do the same things over and over, even if you aren't seeing the immediate fruits of your ministry. But you have to trust that God is at work, believing that one of these days, a sprout will spring forth from the ground, and eventually you will see the results of your labor. That is the promise of the principle of sowing and reaping.
That does not mean that sometimes we don't need to take a step back and rethink what we're doing. We all need to regularly evaluate our lives and make sure that what we are doing is in God's will and lines up with His word and the direction of His Spirit who lives within us. To return to the analogies from above, if you are playing the wrong notes, or your golf swing is bad, or your target shooting form is bad, you likely need to seek to identify the problem and fix what's broken before you continue. Doing the same thing over and over--if it's wrong--is never the right choice.
Hear again the words of the apostle Paul: "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." (Galatians 6:7-9)
And remember, it's not "insane" to be faithful. So don't grow weary, don't give up, and stay faithful. I'm praying for you, and I look forward to seeing you Sunday.
--Pastor Ken
