Missing the Mark

"And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." Hebrews 3:18-19

You cannot have a conversation about sin without asking the question, "What is sin?" Depending on who you ask you may get a different response each time. One of the most common answers given to this question is that sin is "missing the mark." Missing the mark is also described as "disobedience to God." A proof-text given to support this idea is found in Matthew 22:36-40. There it reads, "“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” A conclusion to this statement by Jesus is that "We show our love by obeying all that He has taught us." Others will go as far as saying, "God's commandments are actually instructions to teach us how to be like Him. The more we become like Him, the more we put the well being of others first." This sounds good and reasonable, but are we capable of it? From a human perspective, we believe we are capable of loving God and loving one another. As for loving God, my experience is that just saying you love Him passes for loving Him. If you ask your average Christian if they love God, they will respond with a resounding, "Yes." But, what does loving God entail? From my experience, it means living a dedicated life of religious activity and endless disciplining of one's body to overcome sin where just the attempt is deemed sufficient enough to satisfy God. When it comes to loving your neighbor as yourself, i.e. loving one another, how are people doing at it? Do we make sure our neighbors are clothed, fed, housed, have energy and have everything they need to maintain their lives before we address our own needs? Be honest. Do we live each minute of every day making sure we are living up to the Golden Rule and doing unto others as we would have them do unto us? Be honest. If you are honest, your reply has to be that you are not loving God with all your heart, soul and mind nor are you loving your neighbor as yourself. In other words, you are missing the mark; being disobedient to God through the commission of your sin. In fact, this so-called Christian life sounds more like it is a response to the devil than it is a response to God. It was the devil who tempted Eve by saying, "For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:5).” When I hear people say we show our love for God by our obedience and that God's commandments are to teach us to be like Him, my conclusion is that we are actually listening to the lie of the devil by trying to "be like God" through our knowledge of good and evil.

We will never be able to love God with all our heart, soul and mind through our attempts at obeying all He has taught us because God demands perfection, not our best effort. Much of what Jesus taught, especially what we read in Matthew 22:36-40, was not to encourage us to try and be like Him. Rather, He taught us this in hopes that through our failed attempts to be obedient, we would realize that we cannot obey Him. This will lead us to the conclusion that the only way in which to be right with God is through His grace and mercy. In 1 John 4:19, it says, "We love because he first loved us." Jesus showed us His love for us by loving us with all His heart, soul and mind. He displayed this by living a life we could not and then taking the penalty of death we deserved. Now, through faith in Him, we begin to receive the love of God and as we rest, He can love others through us as we bear the fruit He is producing in us. Remember, "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law (Galatians 5:22-23)." It is the Spirit, not us, that produces the fruit we desire so much. Furthermore, there is no law that is associated with the production of the fruit. Therefore, there are no instructions to follow in an effort to be like God. To be like God is to be perfect. We are not perfect. Only God is perfect. That is why Jesus said, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48)." This one verse alone should bury us and end all our attempts at trying to "be like Him." But, through our faith in Jesus, God sees us as perfect because of His obedience, not ours. In Hebrews 10:14, it says, "For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified." Through our faith in Jesus Christ, we are perfect in the eyes of God. Life is not one of being the proverbial marksman on the firing range or archer out on the field trying to hit the target, only to consistently miss the mark. We will never behave perfectly in our thoughts and actions. But, as we learn to rest in what Jesus Christ has done for us, hit the mark every time, "I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6)." So, what is sin? Sin is unbelief in what God has said and done. Our attempts to try and live a life only He can live is strong evidence that we do not believe God. We will never love a God we feel demands perfect behavior to commands we cannot obey. And if we are not living as we feel He demands, we will not feel as if we are being loved by Him. The end result is that we will not be loving our neighbors. Only when we believe God will we not be sinning and hitting the mark; learning to rest from our works, receive His love and love others.