I’m learning that it is easy to feel like you fully understand a concept in the Bible and then as you read and study, the Lord reveals even more. His truth is powerful and precious that way. I was reading in Ephesians 2 where Paul describes a life of sin (click here to read the full passage). What I found really interesting is that the word for sin used here is “hamartia” which is a shooting word. It literally means a miss. If we shoot an arrow at a target and miss – that is hamartia. Sin is the failure to hit the target of life. In other words, it is the failure to be what we should be and could be.
This flew in my face as I can definitely relate to this (having plenty of misses in my life). When we think of sin, sometimes we fall into a lull thinking it doesn’t really apply to us. We are decent, respectable people. We haven’t stolen anything or murdered anyone. And yet, Christ calls out to us in this scripture. Are we where would should be and could be as wives, mothers, and daughters? As husbands, fathers, and sons? What about as friends, employees, workers in the home, and even as volunteers? Or are we missing the target?
If we take a little time for reflection of our own lives, we can see we might have some misses or areas where we need to strive a little harder. These days it seems that it is much easier to focus on the sins of others (especially the sins that perhaps we don’t struggle with as much) than to take a closer look at our own hearts and ask Christ to guide us to be all that we could be.
After reading this passage with a better understanding, I realize that I have some work to do in many areas of my life. And as we read later in Ephesians 2, we know that Christ has equipped us in advance for every good work. He promises to prepare us, strengthen us, and motivate us for the work ahead. He will even show us some grace and mercy through our misses.
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My prayer is that we would all seek His wisdom and understanding through scripture, that we would look for His guidance as we take time for reflection of our own lives, that we would draw on His strength to help us aim higher, and that our lives might become louder than our words in sharing our testimony.
