SEPTEMBER 5, John 6:47

“Oh, no!” exclaimed Joe as he looked at his report card. He didn’t like math, so he always hurried through his assignments as quickly as he could. Sometimes he didn’t even do them. But this grade was even worse than what he expected!

Joe’s parents were also unhappy with his results. “Mom and I talked with your teacher about this,” Dad told him the next day. “If you’re doing your best work, that’s fine, but the teacher doesn’t believe you are. We don’t think so, either. We think you’re able to get a passing grade in math. What do you think?” Joe sighed and nodded. “I’ll do better,” he promised.

“So we all agree that if you work hard and do your best, you’ll pass, right?” asked Dad. Joe nodded. “Okay,” Dad continued. “Well, Mom and I decided that if you pass, we’ll reward you this Christmas with the remote control car we’ve been talking about. If you don’t put in your effort, you know what will happen.”

“All right!” exclaimed Joe. “I’ll be sure to get my assignments done every day, so getting that car will be easy.”

For a while, Joe did well. Assignments were in on time, and the grades on his papers were good. Then, gradually, he studied less and played more. The night before his math test, Joe got out his book and spent several hours studying. “I don’t get it! How do you work out this problem?” he asked from time to time. He listened carefully as Mom or Dad explained.

After taking the test, Joe wasn’t sure he had passed. “But maybe I did”, he thought. “I should have studied more, but maybe I made it anyway.”

When Joe got his paper back, he sighed. He had learned a lot in that last night of frantic study, but he had started too late and just missed a passing grade. He knew - and Mom and Dad knew - he hadn’t done his best. “I’m sorry,” said Dad when he saw Joe’s grade, “but you know what this means.” “But, Dad, I almost passed,” Joe pleaded.

“Almost isn’t enough,” said Dad. “You agreed that if you did your best, you’d easily pass math. We said if you did that, you’d get a remote-controlled car - not if you almost passed” Joe had nothing more to say.

Thought: Are you almost persuaded to be a Christian? Almost is not enough.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, help me to genuinely believe in Jesus and live a life that shows it. Please help me to be sure of my own salvation. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.