Romans 3:23-24For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus
I guess a way you could look at it is, when a person competes in the pole vault, he is focused on doing one thing, jumping higher than the mark where the bar has been set. Once he/she has jumped, there can only be two outcomes. Either they cleared the mark or fell short.
If they failed in their attempt to clear the bar, whether he missed by an inch or a foot it doesn't matter. They still failed.
The same is true with sin. The Hebrew word for sin literally means "to miss the mark." Everyone sins by choosing to go their own way instead of God's way. Some people miss God's mark by an inch; others miss it by a mile. How close you come doesn't matter. Close isn't and never will be close enough.
The moral bar God has set for us to clear is a high one; it is so high that it's impossible to continually clear it on our own. A perfect, holy God can't embrace anything less than perfect. The good news is that this perfect and faultless God is also loving. That's why he provided a way for us to clear the bar more consistently, as well as a means for us to avoid penalty when we do miss the mark.
It is important for us to recognize that everyone sins. We should shift our focus to the future, not to the past. Because of Jesus, guilt and the fear of punishment no longer weigh us down. When we miss the mark, we should ask for God's forgiveness, learn from our mistake, and then keep moving forward.
1 comment:
Interesting interpretation although I think you "missed the mark."
There is a such a negative connotation with your point view as with most religion in general.
Another way to look at is not that you failed, but simply that you missed the mark, try again and again and again until you get it.
Post a Comment