NOTHING CAN BECOME SOMETHING

From My Perspective - - -

Nothing is a very purposeful concept. The World Dictionary has a very long listing of what “nothing” conveys and means. Among those definitions are these: “no thing; not anything; no part or share; a matter of no importance or significance; the absence of anything perceptible; the absence of meaning, value, worth; zero quantity; naught.” Obviously, nothing is something with which the culture of our day has no identity. Why? The Culture of our day is fixated on possessions and things. One example of this is the Cell Phone craze. One can observe the very young to the older generation with devices of every sort. It has become the means for communication and entertainment. With the advances of technology, there is a generation that would act as though they were the most deprived generation if suddenly their devices were no longer available.

Long lost is the concept of nothing and having to do with less. Between the start of The Great Depression of 1929 and the beginnings of World War II in 1939, George and Ira Gershwin wrote an American folk opera, Porgy and Bess, that premiered in New York in the fall of 1935. One of the feature songs of Porgy and Bess contained these lyrics: “I got plenty of nothing; And nothing is plenty for me. I got no car, Got no mule, Got no misery. Folks with plenty of plenty; They got a lock on the door. Afraid somebody's going to rob them while; They're out making more - What for? I got no lock on the door; That's no way to be. They can steal the rug From the floor; That's OK with me.  Cause the things that I prize Like the stars in the sky - Are all free.” The song was popularized by Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. The Lyric caught the attention of the nation because it represented that which most of them were experiencing at that time. They all knew what it was to have “plenty of nothing.”

The idea of nothing is especially vital when it comes to reflecting on the origin of the world and mankind. One thought that attaches itself to the preceding is stated in I Timothy 6:6-7 (ESV), “Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.” In the NLT, the rendering is: “Yet true religion with contentment is great wealth. After all, we didn't bring anything with us when we came into the world, and we certainly cannot carry anything with us when we die.” Another important consideration of “nothing” is in terms of how the world originated. This requires an acceptance of the presentation given in Genesis 1 that begins with: “In the beginning God created,” The World English Dictionary gives the precise definition: “to cause to come into existence.” The term often associated with Creation is the Latin Phrase “ex nihilo” – created out of nothing with no pre-existing matter. The point is that God chose to make Something out of Nothing.

In this Advent Season, it is important to consider this act and work of God along with the Birth of Jesus Christ. When the Angel Gabriel comes to Mary and tells her she will be the Mother of Jesus, Mary asks the obvious question in Luke 1:34 (ASV), “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.” Gabriel explains the process of how this will occur and then declares in Luke 1:37, “For nothing is impossible with God.” The “nothing is impossible" means that Jesus Christ will become man – Philippians 2:5-11; He will take on human flesh – John 1:14, “And The Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His Glory, Glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” He would endure the same snares and temptations common to mankind – Matthew 4:1-11. In Hebrews 4:15, we know: “...we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” In II Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV), “ (God) made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Because “nothing is impossible with God”, Ephesians 2:1-5 informs us: “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked…(He) made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),” This enables II Corinthians 5:17 to become one’s reality: “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” The impossible can become possible; the nothing can become something - by God’s Grace and Power alone. Seek and Receive Jesus Christ and become a “new creation” in Him. Consider these things with me.