Almost Right Is Still Lost

[David]

No one makes this argument in the real world. Almost a cure for cancer still kills. Almost a safe landing still wrecks. Almost an attentive guard at the wrong time still costs lives. Reality doesn’t respond to sincerity. It responds to truth.

Scripture says spiritual reality is no different.

Most people think the real danger is being wrong. The Bible reveals a more serious danger. Being almost right. Close enough to feel safe. Close enough to be confident. Close enough to stop listening.

The first lie was not atheism. It was adjustment. “Yea, hath God said?” ~Genesis 3:1. Eve did not deny God flat out. She revised His words. Standing near the truth was enough to bring death.

Cain worshipped. He brought an offering. It seemed sincere. God rejected it because it was not obedience. Near obedience was not obedience, and sin was already at the door ~Genesis 4:3-7.

Israel heard God speak and promised loyalty. “All that the LORD hath spoken we will do” ~Exodus 19:8. Days later they remade worship in a more comfortable form. They did not reject God. They redefined Him. Judgment ensued ~Exodus 32.

God would expose the same danger again. “This people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me” ~Isaiah 29:13. Closeness is no guarantee.

When Jesus delivered His most famous sermon, He warned the moral and the religious. He said false teachers would sound right and look harmless, but fruit would reveal them. “Ye shall know them by their fruits” ~Matthew 7:16. He did not water down the result. “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire” ~Matthew 7:19.

Then He said what most avoid. Many will call Him Lord. Many will recite works. And He will reply, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” ~Matthew 7:23. Never knew. Not almost knew.

Two hear the same truth. One does it. One doesn’t. The storm reveals the difference. “Great was the fall of it” ~Matthew 7:27.

Scripture is consistent. Sacrifice is no substitute for obedience ~1 Samuel 15:22. Hearing without doing is self-deception ~James 1:22. Belief alone will not save. “The devils also believe, and tremble” ~James 2:19.

This is a problem for the non-religious and the religious alike. Scripture does not measure how close you are. It measures whether you are Christ’s on His terms.

Almost right is still lost.

Read the full study here on Know the Bible:

Almost Right Is Still Lost | Know the Bible Blog