It is widely (but incorrectly) attributed to Albert Einstein. In reality, it emerged in the early 1980s within 12-step recovery communities (Al-Anon and Narcotics Anonymous) and has no verified connection to Einstein.
This saying captures a profound truth about human effort apart from God: relying on our own strength, wisdom, and repeated self-effort leads only to frustration and futility.
Solomon, the wisest of kings, discovered this centuries earlier and wrote it into Scripture: “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Man’s striving, left to itself, is a wheel that turns without arriving. Solomon tried wisdom, pleasure, wealth, and labor — “vanity of vanities,” he called it all (Ecclesiastes 1:2).
Every man born has tried some version of the same experiment: If I just work harder, do more, sin less, try again — surely this time it will be enough. And every honest man, if he is patient enough to watch the results, discovers what Solomon discovered. It never is.
There is only one thing a man can do, repeated every day for the rest of his life, that will never fail him — not only in this life, but for eternity: placing his faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
This is the line that divides all of human religion into two roads: the way of men, and the way of Christ.
The Way of Men: A Ladder That Never Reaches Heaven
From Eden onward, man’s instinct after sin has been the same: cover it himself.
When Adam and Eve sinned, their first act was not repentance — it was labor. “They sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons” (Genesis 3:7). It is the first recorded act of self-salvation in human history, and it is the pattern of every religion of works since: man, sensing his nakedness before God, tries to cover himself with his own hands.
The way of men says:
- “I will do enough good to outweigh the bad.”
- “I will keep the rules well enough to be accepted.”
- “I will suffer, sacrifice, or perform my way into God’s favor.”
- “If I just try harder this time…”
This is not unique to any one culture or era — it is the default religion of the human heart. Cain brought an offering of his own labor, the fruit of the ground he had cultivated, instead of a blood sacrifice — and God rejected it (Genesis 4:3-5). Not because Cain didn’t work hard. Because works, however sincere, cannot atone for sin. Only blood can. “Without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22).
Paul names this tendency directly among the most religious people of his day: “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:3). This is the tragedy of the way of men — it is often sincere, disciplined, even admirable by human standards, and it still fails, every time, to do the one thing that matters: cleanse sin and reconcile a man to a holy God.
The way of men is a ladder built to reach heaven — and it is always, without exception, too short.
The Way of Christ: A Finished Work, Not an Ongoing Performance
The way of Christ begins with a completely different posture. It does not begin with man’s effort. It begins with God’s initiative.
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Notice: not after we cleaned ourselves up. While we were yet sinners.
On the cross, Jesus did not say, “It has begun.” He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30) — in the Greek, tetelestai, a word stamped on completed debts, meaning “paid in full.” There is nothing left to add. Nothing left to earn. The one perfect sacrifice was offered once, and it is enough forever: “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14).
This is the astonishing claim of the gospel — the one claim no other religion makes: salvation is not a ladder you climb, but a gift you receive.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Not of works. Not partly of works and partly of grace. Not of works, lest any man should boast. God deliberately designed salvation so that no man could ever stand before Him and say, “I earned this.” The way of Christ removes all boasting and gives all glory to the One who bled.
Why the Blood — and Not Your Effort — Is the One Thing That Works
Here is why faith in the blood of Jesus succeeds where every human effort fails, and why it is the one thing worth doing again and again for the rest of your life:
1. Your effort is finite. His blood is infinite. No matter how many good deeds you pile up, you are a finite creature offering a finite payment for an infinite offense against a holy, infinite God. But Christ, being God in the flesh, offered a payment of infinite worth. “Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold… But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19).
2. Your effort is inconsistent. His finished work never changes. You will have good days and bad days, seasons of discipline and seasons of failure. If your standing with God rests on your performance, your assurance will rise and fall with your mood. But “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8) — His sacrifice does not need to be redone, topped up, or maintained by you.
3. Your effort proves the diagnosis; the blood provides the cure. Trying harder to be good enough only confirms how far short you fall — “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The law was never given to save you; it was given to show you your need for a Savior (Galatians 3:24). The blood is the cure the law itself pointed toward.
4. It is the one act of faith that yields a guaranteed, eternal result. This is the answer to the “insanity” of repeating what doesn’t work. Faith in the blood is not one more failed strategy to abandon. It is the one act that never fails, because its power is not in you — it is in Him. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Every single time.
The Invitation: Stop Sewing Fig Leaves
If you have spent years — perhaps a whole lifetime — trying the way of men, trying harder, promising yourself “this time will be different,” and still feeling the weight of guilt and distance from God, hear this clearly:
You do not need another attempt at self-improvement. You need a Savior.
Jesus is not asking you to clean yourself up before you come to Him. He is asking you to come as you are and let His blood do what your effort never could. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18).
The way of men says: do more. The way of Christ says: believe, and receive what He has already done.
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).
This is the one thing you can do today, tomorrow, and for the rest of your life, that will never disappoint you — not because it is a technique that works, but because it rests entirely on a Person who cannot fail: Jesus Christ, and His blood, shed once, sufficient forever.
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, I confess that my own efforts have never been enough to make me right with You. I stop trusting in my works, my performance, and my own righteousness. I place my full faith in Your blood, shed for me on the cross, and I believe You rose again. Save me — not because of what I have done, but because of what You have already finished. Thank You that it is not of works, so that I can never boast, but only ever give You the glory. Amen.
Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (KJV).
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