Doing All God Asks
While watching some of the Men’s college basketball tournament, I heard a comment that struck me as a little off. One of the players had walked to the free throw line, and the commentator said, “he never misses.” Then he went on to give his statistic of shooting 88% of his free throws. If he never misses wouldn’t his percentage be 100%?
If he had said he seldom misses, rarely misses, or hardly ever misses, I wouldn’t have thought a thing about it. But those weren’t the words he used, and the other commentator did not correct him either.
That got me to thinking how many times we may use the word “never” or “always” when these may not be the best words to use. And I thought about the Bible’s use of the words. There are times in God’s word that words are used to define an occasion that something was done, completely, and we don’t have to question it.
In Genesis 6, God has seen the world, and it has gotten total out of hand with its wickedness. He decides that he will destroy mankind with a flood. There is one man though that is described as righteous, Noah. God tells him to build an ark and gives him the kind of wood and dimensions to build it, how to make sure it will float and to take animals on it—two of every kind. When Noah completed this, we read in Genesis 6:22, “Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.” (NASB)
Noah did “all” that the Lord commanded him. Can you imagine hearing the words that “Noah did all he was commanded to do…91% of the time.” What? How could he do all if he left some of it out?
When the Lord asks us to do something, He doesn’t want us to do it partially but completely follow his words. If we leave something out it would not be doing what He wants. To be saved we must believe Mark 16:16; repent of our sins, Luke 13:3,5; confess Jesus, Matthew 10:32,33; be baptized, Mark 16:16 and then to live faithfully after we have been baptized, Revelation 2:10. This is what the Lord says to do. We must not come up short of this or we could not be saved or lose the salvation we have.
God always keeps His promises, and everything is fulfilled if it is followed by those who hear Him. He doesn’t want us to do 88% of what He asks us, but 100%. I want to live with Him one day, and I want everyone to obey His teachings and be all He desires of them.