by Cathy Vinson

What does it mean to "almost" believe? We know no one can create spiritual hunger but God. He alone draws people, causes people to seek Him, reveals truth, and convicts of guilt, righteousness and judgment. If this is at work in an individual, we know we are seeing the handprints of God's activity within them.

But at this stage, the person still remains outside the promises of God. Almost is not enough. "Once you were not a people...once you had not received mercy" (1 Pet 2:10), "you were once darkness..." (Eph 5:8). "Once" has not been changed.

A vivid memory to my husband remains with him of the night before he surrendered to the Lord. As some street preachers at a festival encountered his gang of friends, one other friend stayed to hear. While the gang tried to drag the two away, his friend consented to being pulled away. My husband will never forget the longing look on his face as he looked back to the preachers talking to my husband. He was killed 3 1/2 months later as he drove drunk into an oil well. It is a look he can't forget, the look of "almost."

You may have been interested, even stirred. This could not happen without God's drawing (Jn 6:44). You may think you can stay or return to this point...only indefinitely.

Please make that step of your will. If you are stirred, God is doing His part. May your story not be recorded as "almost."

"Almost you persuade me to be a Christian "

(Acts 26:28 )