Has there ever been a time when God accepts things less than 100% of man’s effort? In the Old Testament there are some examples of those who tried to bring less. Micah spoke to the people who were worshipping God, but leaving other important things undone. He asked, “Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, then thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” (Micah 6:7). The answer was implicitly, a “No.” Malachi later spoke of those who were not bringing the best of what they had, but the left-overs. “And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil?” (Malachi 1:8). They were worshipping, but not with the best of effort.

     What if we weren’t as bad as those folks, but were giving 99.9% effort toward faithfulness? We would probably say of ourselves, “That’s pretty good. That’s almost all of our effort toward serving God.” While most of us might think that an effort in that amount is outstanding, you may be surprised what that 0.1% can do. Think about these statistics: If 99.9% were good enough, then…

à         Two million documents will be lost by the IRS this year.

à         811,000 faulty rolls of 35mm film will be installed this year.

à         22,000 checks will be taken from the wrong bank account in the next 60 mins.

à         12 babies will be given to the wrong parents each day.

à         268,500 defective tires will be shipped this year.

à         5,517,200 cases of soft drinks will be flatter than a bad tire.

à         2,488,200 books will be shipped in the next 12 months with the wrong cover.

à         $9,690 will be spent today, tomorrow, and every day in the future on defective and often unsafe sporting equipment.

à         18,322 pieces of mail will be mishandled in the next hour.

à         291 pacemaker operations will be performed incorrectly this year.

à         114,500 mismatched pairs of shoes will be shipped this year.

à         1,314 phone calls will be misplaced by the telecommunications services every minute.

à         55 malfunctioning ATM machines will be installed in the next year.

à         315 entries in the Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language will turn out misspelled. (Recreational Sports & Fitness Magazine)

     By now, you get the point. What does 0.1% mean? Though it may seem like an insignificant number, and 99.9% effort is surely enough, it is likely those 291 people whose pacemakers didn’t work would disagree heartily (pun intended). How many opportunities do we miss in serving God with only 99.9% effort? Better yet, does God accept our efforts, if they aren’t 100%? Surely it’s worth our consideration. God Bless!