LightGrams
January 14, 2021
Volume 25, Number 2
A bow hunter in Jackson County, Kansas came upon a dilemma last week: two male deer had their antlers locked together, and could not free themselves. It was a sad sight, and the hunter knew a painful drawn-out death was the ultimate outcome without outside assistance. He called local wildlife officials who quickly arrived.
The bucks still had considerable energy, and approaching them posed a risk to the Game Wardens. Finally a blanket was thrown over the locked heads, which caused the bucks to stand nearly motionless. At that point one of the wardens drew his pistol and aimed at the top of the antlers. One shot broke off a piece, enabling the bucks to run free in different directions.
Hitting the mark is a key objective for hunting game. In this case, however, hitting the mark was vital in order to spare the lives of those bucks. Thankfully the Game Warden was familiar with how to accurately use his sidearm.
“Missing the mark” is the image behind the Greek word hamartia, which is translated “sin”. The “mark” in question is God’s will; one who sins misses that mark, either by committing a violation of God’s law, or by failing to do as the Lord commands. 1 John 3:4 provides a simple definition of sin: “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.”
Why should this word “sin” concern us? Because, as Paul stated in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Is that a problem, that I have transgressed God’s laws? “For the wages of sin is death …” (Romans 6:23). Yes, we have a problem indeed!
Let’s return to 1 John 3:5 to hear some good news on this dilemma: “And you know that [Christ] was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.” John is referring to Jesus being “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). The sins we commit can be remitted “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19).
For the blood of Jesus to be effective in removing our sins, He had to be without sin. In other words, Jesus had to “hit the mark” every time! We find it challenging to go a single day without doing things we know are wrong, or failing to do what we should. But Jesus lived His entire life on earth without once missing the mark of God’s will.
We would have forever been locked to our deadly sins had it not been for the Lamb of God coming to our rescue! Those who are grateful must determine to be like their Savior, in that we will work to separate ourselves from sin from this day forward.
Come to the light God offers! Study His word, the Bible. Worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss these ideas further.
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Copyright, 2021, Timothy D. Hall. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the New King James Version (Copyright, 1990, Thomas Nelson, Inc.).
“LightGrams” is produced by the Central Church of Christ, 2722 Oakland Avenue, Johnson City, Tennessee, 37601, and is written by Tim Hall, minister. It is sent free of charge every Thursday to all who request it. To subscribe or to receive more information, write to “[email protected]” (our E-mail address), to the U.S. mail address above, or call (423) 282-1571.
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