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If any of the younger generation is reading this, they are probably thinking, “Has Bill David lost what little mind he has?” while those of my generation are thinking, “Maxwell Smart?”
One of Maxwell Smart’s favorite lines was, “I missed it by that much.” Whenever he would utter those words, all of us in TV land would chuckle at his explanation for messing up.
Jesus taught about some in this world who are going to “miss it by that much.” Matthew recorded, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”‘ (Matthew 7:21-23).
James penned, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does,” (James 1:22-25).
And Peter wrote, “For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to tum from the holy commandment delivered to them” (2 Peter 2:20-21).
Let’s make sure we don’t “miss it by that much.” If we miss it by anything, we will be making excuses for eternity.
Bill David Walker
Elm & Murrow Church of Christ
Waynoka, OK