Introduction: Sometimes, close enough just isn't!
Text, Matthew 13:25, KJV: 25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
Thoughts: Have you ever heard the phrase, “Oh, that’ s close enough” or “that’s good enough”? Sometimes, it’s true but there are any number of times when it isn’t!
Case in point: I had recently bought a car and was still getting used to the new color, make, and so on. One afternoon I parked at a certain department store, did my shopping, and went back out to find the car where I left it in the parking lot. I thought.
You see, I saw a very similar car to mine: same color, same year, same make and model and it was close to where I had parked my car! I opened the door, and almost sat down—
Notice I said, “almost”?
Even though there was more alike between the two cars, mine and whoever owned the other one, close enough really wasn’t! I doubt my key would have started the other car; even worse things might have happened. You don’t really think a police officer would believe your story, “Oh, I’m sorry, officer, but it’s close enough”, do you?
Fortunately (and maybe providentially), I realized, “oops, this isn’t my car!” and promptly left. In just a moment, I did find my car—the REAL my car—and made it home.
Jesus told a story about wheat and “tares”, or a weed that looks like wheat but is just a weed, not good for much of anything as I understand it. After all, in the parable Jesus told in Matthew 13, the farmer told his hired men to let the wheat and tares grow together and then separate the two “crops”. They were to harvest the one and burn up the other.
Close enough? The tares might have looked like wheat, and be close enough to fool all but the most experienced workers, but the two are totally different. And just like a car that might be close enough—it really isn’t.
Whether it’s a teaching, a misuse of a Scripture, or any other part of the Christian faith, there are also any number of things that might be considered “close enough” but, really, are not. May we all have the wisdom and discretion to know the true and the false, the real versus the fake, and to find out what’s called “close enough” but really isn’t. The wisdom is there for the asking and the Holy Spirit will guide us into the truth and truths that we all need.
And that’s not close enough—that’s the real deal!
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).