Be Careful to Not Confuse it With Having it All Together
“Close but no cigar” is a saying that is used when someone falls short of their goal or successful outcome and thus gets no reward. It is believed to come from the 1920s when public fairs and events would give out actual cigars as prizes.
Compared to modern-day carnivals, most of the entertainment back then was centered around adults. As you can probably visualize, when someone was shy of winning the prize, the game attendant would probably say, “Close, but no cigar.”
A game similar to carnival games is the popular game Cornhole. This is a lawn game, once known as “sack toss”, in which players or teams take turns throwing fabric bean bags at a raised, angled board with a hole in its far end. The goal of the game is to score points by either landing a bag on the board (one point) or putting a bag through the hole (three points).
So when the bags are tossed and land on the board but don’t go in the hole, it’s “close, but no cigar”.
There are a lot of situations in life that are “close, but no cigar.” Like being an “almost Christian”.
As Pastor Lisa has been taking us through the book of Acts, we’ve seen how Paul has become an “all in” Christian. He’s willing to be mistreated, whipped, and imprisoned for standing up for his beliefs.
In this Sunday’s Scripture, Acts 26:24-32, Paul is speaking before Festus and Agripa defending himself and telling his story. Festus accuses Paul of being mad. But Agripa was a Jewish King, and Paul says to Festus “King Agrippa knows about these things, and I have been speaking openly to him. I’m certain that none of these things have escaped his attention. This didn’t happen secretly or in some out-of-the-way place. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do.”
Agripa was caught in the middle between his worldly power as a king and Christ. He was not “all in”. Like Agripa there were a lot of Sadducees and Pharisees that were having trouble believing in Christ. They were almost Christians, not “all in” Christians.
The world today is full of almost Christians, not “all in” Christians.
Being a Christian requires us to be “all in”
This is more than just doing the right things. Even the demons believe that Jesus is who He said He is, but they aren’t Christians. Being a Christian is more than just believing.
God tells us in Revelation 3:15-16, to not be lukewarm or He will spit us out of His mouth. He wants us to be “all in”.
Being and “all in” Christian, is constantly being in contact with Jesus through prayer and reading the Bible.
Being an “all in” Christian doesn’t mean that we have it all together. Too often, people who aren’t Christians think you have to be perfect to be Christian. This isn’t the case. Christians are like everybody else, except that we have a relationship with Christ.