Jim's Jots and Tittles. . .

Don't Live A Maybe Life

Maybe means perhaps, possibly, potentially, not certain. It is the pillar on which unfaithfulness stands.

Unfaithfulness usually does not occur overnight. It begins with a "maybe." "Maybe" determines whether one will be in class every time. It determines whether one will be in worship every time. It determines how often I study God's word and talk to God in prayer. It determines how often I desire to have fellowship with the brethren. You see, "maybe" is the stepping stone that leads one into unfaithfulness.

Jesus Himself presents a "maybe" life in Matthew 7:21 — "Not everyone who says to Me,'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father is in heaven." He also presents a "maybe" life in the parable of the sower. The seed, the word of God, sown by the wayside, in rocky places and among thorns produced nothing. When sown in good soil it produced some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.

When we live a "maybe" life the deceitfulness of sin will prevent us from realizing we are falling away. Hebrews 3:13-14 tells us how to deal with a "maybe" life – "but encourage one another day after day, as long as it is called today, lest any one of you he hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end."

The first Christians after Pentecost in Acts 2 were not "maybe" Christians. Verse 42 — "And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." This is what saved people do. In verse 47 we are told "… And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who are being saved."

Jesus did not live a "maybe" life. In John 12:49-50 He states — "for I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me commandment, what to say, and what to speak. And I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told me." And in John 17:4 He prayed to the Father — "I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do."

And in 1 John, chapter 2, John compares the Christian life to the life of Christ. In verse three he writes one's life cannot be a "maybe" life — "And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments." And in verse six he writes — "the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked."

The Corinthians lived a "maybe" life from beginning to end. In 1 Corinthians 3:3 Paul writes — "for you are still fleshly, for since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?"

And in 2 Corinthians 12:21 Paul writes — "I am afraid that when I come again my God may humiliate me before you, and I may mourn over many of those who have sinned in the past and not repented…" And yet this is after he had exhorted them not to live a "maybe" life in 1 Corinthians 15:58 – "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord."

God's reward is reserved for those who live a Christian life, not a "maybe" life. "For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised." (Hebrews 10:36) And God always does what he says. (Hebrews 10:23) He is not a "maybe" God!

—Jim Hunt