In jolly old England long long ago archery was commonplace. Contests were held to display the skill level of those who shot arrows with their bows. We are all familiar with the “bulls eye target” …

Of course, the object is to hit the very center of the target. The archer aimed and tried to hit the center area or “mark”. If the arrow failed to hit the mark and landed outside of the mark the English people of that time had a word they used to simply convey that the archer had missed the mark. The spotter who was down near the target would yell out this word so everyone would know the outcome. Do you know what that word was that they used to communicate that the archer had missed the mark? It was “sin”. Yes, sin simply meant missing the mark.

God has a target for each one of us. We are to aim for the very center as well. The very center of God’s target is His perfection, His holiness, His likeness, and more. In archery there were those who were able to hit the mark, but no one can hit the mark on God’s target. Everyone misses the mark. We have all sinned. Yes, we have all missed God’s mark. No one can win this ‘contest’. God tells us that all our righteousness is as filthy rags. We all fall short of God’s glory. If we only had ears to hear we would hear the Holy Spirit (God’s spotter) yelling out sin each and every day. That is an optional thing. We can choose to listen or tune it out. But if we choose to tune it out there is a very high price to pay.

God knows we can’t hit the bullseye, but He loves us anyway. We can’t hit the mark, but there is One Who can. His Name is Jesus. He can hit the mark because He is God. We have heard of “pinch hitters” in baseball. That is when another player is allowed to bat in our place. We all need a pinch hitter … Someone Who can go to bat for us … Someone Who can hit the mark for us. When that happens we receive His mark upon us indicating that we are now qualified as our pinch hitter has hit the mark for us. With that mark upon us we can be sure that God is satisfied and we will escape His wrath and anger He has for those who reject what He offers them.

We have a choice. We can continue in sin or we can become winners instead of losers. Yes, the choice is ours … ours alone. What will you do with Jesus? Archery contests are not very common anymore but we all are players in God’s ‘contest’. And sin is still the problem as we all miss the mark.