Sin Missing the mark I read an article this past week that talked about the word sin.

. It spoke how it was written in the Greek. Normally the word for sin is harmatia (its verb form is harmartano). It means literally to miss the mark. It is a archers term. I thought it interesting as I pondered God using this word. When we lived in El Dorado, Arkansas for a brief time, we became close to a Christian family that were primitive bow hunters. Perry loved introducing people to archery. He was president of an archery club and was involved in every facet of bow hunting, to the point he even made his own arrows. Every day when we got off work we would go out to his clubs archery range to shoot targets. Just learning about this fascinating sport one can understand Gods lesson about not sinning. If you are paying attention there were two principles that God wants us to get from archery. First is to be able to be consistent you have to control certain aspects of archery. Second, we have to practice often to master the bow. The fact that Perry would make his own arrows doesnt seem important. It sounds more like he just enjoys making them. That is what I thought anyway until I learned more about the craft. A lot of study and strategy went into making arrows. He would weigh each shaft, they would have to be a certain length for his draw, the fletching count would vary based on the purpose of the arrow whether it was for turkeys or larger game like deer. All of those things had to be considered. As he studied he learned more about types of material for his shafts and head combos. There were many things to consider. When we study Gods word God uses different methods to teach for different stages of our spiritual lives. The Apostle Paul talks about milk of the word and meat of the word. This indicates that we are on a growing path to make Gods will our way of life. God has given us all the instructions we need in the Bible. We cannot think that just because it is a small book that it is easy to master. We can spend our entire lives and never cease to grow in our spiritual walk with God. I know at my age I am continually enlightened about things found in the Bible. I know talking with my dad he often relates how his knowledge still grows based on his constant study. Often times when the Apostles were preaching they did not always understand themselves what they taught. Only after years of working and meditating and remembering what the Lord taught them did they understand all that the Lord teaches us through His word. In Acts 2 Peter preached that the gospel would be taught to those far off and in Acts 10 gets to realize that lesson through experience.

To get consistent at archery you shot the same type of arrows that weighed the same that were fletched the same that were shot from the same bow as you drew back to your anchor point over and over again at a certain distance. All of those were constants. Gods word is our constant as a Christian. As you practiced shooting over and over again you learned the feeling of the bow. What changed was your target and your surroundings. Was the target moving or still. Was the target directly in front of you or behind you while you were in a tree stand? All of the variances were tested by your practice of the constants you had. So in the parallel of us not wanting to miss our mark God has revealed areas that we need to work on to allow ourselves to be consistent with hitting our mark, namely pleasing God. Along with it we have a better life because our God is guiding us, His creation, to live and function as He designed us to. We have to put a constant effort in our lives as Christians in order to hit our mark. We realize that there is a target that God has set for us. His word guides us to that bullseye if we just chose to read and practice it. There is a lot to learn about God. Just like in archery you can enjoy it as a kid even through adult hood. The thing is to just practice at hitting your mark and limit the way in which we miss our mark. As long as we practice the way God instructs us to we can only improve. -CF