Bullseye

(Note: I am attempting to embed an animated PowerPoint presentation into this post. If it works, you will know. If not, maybe someone more computer savvy than I could lend me a hand. Thanks in advance.)

Last Sunday (1/26/20), my sermon title was “The Writing in the Rocks” contrasting God using His finger to write the 10 Commandments—twice—and Jesus using His finger to write in the dirt—twice.

My New Testament Scripture was the passage in John concerning the woman caught in adultery. Although it did not appear in my written notes, at two of the churches, I felt the need to put a visual illustration when talking about our sin.

The bullseyes seemed appropriate.

One definition for sin is “missing the mark”. When one is shooting darts or anything else at a bullseye the best mark is achieved by the person whose dart lands directly in the center circle which is often red.

In my illustration, I pictured a dart board looking like this:

This doesn’t look exactly like the one in my head, but you get the idea. If the arrow lands in one of the circles just outside the bullseye, which might be blue or white, points are often still scored. It is only if the arrow completely misses the target and goes into the wall or whatever is behind the target are no points scored.

In the game of life, the scoring is different. Any arrow missing the bullseyes scores no points. That is called “missing the mark” or sin. We humans might consider the sin of lying as being in the white circle just outside the center, the sin of adultery being in the white area outside all the circles, and the sin of murder being the arrow stuck in the wall. It is not possible for the arrows we humans throw to all hit the bullseye. At some point, we will miss the mark, either just barely or a trip to the hardware store for some spackle.The Bible tells us in many places that all have sinned. Everyone has missed the mark. (Ecclesiastes 7:20, 1 Kings 8:46, Romans 3:20)

What hope is there for the human race?

Or as Paul said in his letter to the Romans (Chapter 7 verse 24) ^“What an agonizing situation I am in! So who has the power to rescue this miserable man from the unwelcome intruder of sin and death?”

The blood of Jesus washes white as snow.

Author: jacquelinemcdougall

Christian author, daughter, sister, recent widow, mother, grandmother who has not only survived many Euroclydons (fierce storms) in life but emerged from them strengthened and victorious. My true identity, which I still struggle to wear, though, is that of daughter of the Living King. View all posts by jacquelinemcdougall