Greetings Dear Reader,
I have loved archery since long before I loved Jesus. My love for both has helped me understand
something that our culture ignores or waters down to the meaningless. As an archer when I was young, I spent hours
firing arrows, improving my aim and technique in order to do a single
thing. I strove to always hit the mark.
As is the case with all efforts of skill, when I began, I failed
often. With every arrow I hoped to hit
the black spot at the center of the bulls eye.
I seldom did. Sometimes I missed
the target entirely. It became easier
with practice to the inner rings of the target.
I still rarely hit the smallest of marks; the black dot at the center of
the yellow.
The truth of it is that no matter how often I hit that
elusive black dot that never moves I have not always hit it. No matter how good I become at archery it
will always be true that I have missed the mark. I became skilled enough that at one point I
could walk arrows across the target from the outside ring to the bulls eye
blindfolded. Still, at that level of skill,
it is true that at one point, at many points, I had missed the mark.
The analogy is a simple one.
The literal definition of the word “sin” is to miss the mark. No matter how often we do things that are
good and noble, there are times when we are selfish, lie, or fail to love
others. This is sin. This is missing the mark.
We all sin. If we say
that we do not then we lie. To lie is to
sin, therefore, we all sin. We do not
like to admit it. Sometimes we dismiss
our accountability for sin but that is another discussion altogether. Diminishing our recognition of sin does not mitigate
our guilt or the debt we owe because of it.
It is this simple. If
the greatest commands are to love God and to love each other, then we are all
guilty of failing at the second and, therefore, failing at the first. Let me
say it clearly again: we all sin. I am
not better than anyone else. I am as
guilty as anyone. We all need pardon for
this sin. This is at the core of our journey
back to God.
The Father showed his love for us in that even when we were
sinners, Jesus died for us. He died to
pay the penalty for my sin. He died to
be the satisfaction for all sin. When we
dance around this truth instead of facing it fully, we are in danger of missing
the rest of the mark. We are in danger
of being completely off target.
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every
writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a
home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure
store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
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