Wide shot…

I live in a part of the country where there is a yearly, county regulated, testosterone-induced ritual known as hunting season. I recognize that there are many out there who abhor this archaic practice of slaughtering harmless animals of all kinds, but until you get out in the elements where your only means of survival is not found in a big gulp and cheesy nachos but through the sensible murder of an animal destined to the fire and a spit, you should not make a fuss. Just go back under your comfy covers and continue reading.

I have a friend who is an excellent hunter. I use the term “excellent” not because he is a great marksman, but because he is a great bowman. That’s correct, he hunts the way of the natives with a bow and arrow. He has often told me of the pleasure and thrill he gets stalking an animal through the brush trying to get close so that you can take aim with your bow. He says that in order for kill to be successful with a bow and arrow you must be at least 30 feet from the beast. Consider that this is the length of most people’s driveway. And you must remain concealed none the less!

There are times when he says that he will wait in a stand or shelter for the animal du jour to walk past him so that he can take his shot. These times he says are the most boring because you must wait for the catch of the day to come your way so often you have to be prepared not to fall asleep.

I once asked him show me how to shoot an arrow from his bow. He was a little leery of such a task but obliged. Handing me his compound bow he attempted to show me how to properly hold it, load the arrow, draw it back and let it fly towards a target we had set up several yards in front of us. This was an adventure to me while it was a test in patience to him as I repeatedly apologized for my inadequate skill set which kept producing shots that first only went a couple of feet in front of me but eventually just peppered ground on both sides of the target. In a moment of frustration he even grabbed the bow from my hands and deftly spun about, registered an arrow at the string, pulled it back and let it fly in the span of two seconds and hit the target dead on. The smirk that quickly crossed his face just as rapidly turned to a frown realizing what he had done.

I patted him on the shoulder and simply said, “Don’t worry; I’m the one who has fallen short of your glory today.” We laughed and went off to enjoy the experience over drinks and chips. So is life in the realm of the Kingdom.

Romans 3:22-24 KJVR
(22) Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
(23) For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
(24) Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

This is common passage used to evoke condemnation upon those who do not know better by those who should know better yet don’t. I want you to look at verse 23 for a moment, particularly that notorious word translated “sinned.” What the original writers of the New Testament knew about this word is not at all what we’ve been led to believe today. So for a moment, let’s assume that you are illiterate can’t even read (except what I’m going to put before you) and I’m charged with correctly presenting this passage to you so that you’ll be able to comprehend it. How would I offer this to you?

(22) The right-standing that Jesus has with God is for all of us that believe because there is no difference in us.
(23) for we have all shot our arrows at the target before us and kept missing the target we were aiming for which is the glory of God;
(24) we have been freely recognized as marksman by the price of the precise target Jesus Christ hit for us all.

There are days when I can’t properly balance my checkbook or I put too many scoops of coffee in the pot or forget to put the drier sheets in the dryer. There are other days that forget to say hello to a friend or co-worker, don’t help someone place a heavy load in their car at the store or don’t give my last amount of change to someone who asks. These times are called “missing the mark,” in Greek, or sin in King James. Notice that these are not egregious faults in my character before God, like snorting when you laugh or picking your nose in church.

Every occurrence of the word “sin” in the New Testament is making reference to the poor marksmanship we all have in hitting a target God placed before us. Sure we try harder, practice longer, strive greater to hit something we can see but we’ll never be able to touch. We just fail to realize that when we’ve fired the last of our arrows, Jesus goes to where they are stuck in the ground, picks them up, registers them in the string and fires everyone precisely into the target as us. It does not matter how wide we were, how short or far we missed, Jesus makes it up for us every single time.

If there was an Olympic sporting event that would be fun to watch it would be the tandem archery event. In this contest teams of two would compete against each other to see who could make the most perfect scores. One member of the team would stand with his bow and arrows and be donned with a mask that prevented them from see where the target was at. The other member of the team would stand many yards away in front of the first and shout out to their partner to provide a direction of where to shoot.

Once the first member shoots, it would be the task of the second to retrieve the arrow wherever it fell and shoot it at the target wherever it is at. What would make this such an exciting event is that multiple teams would compete at once! What would make it even more thrilling is having Jesus as the second member of each team! Everyone wins in the end, just as it has always been through his grace.