14 January 2019

All out of Epithets ~ Missing the Mark


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. 

 Wishing you joy in the journey,

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.”
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