ON TARGET?...OR MISSING THE MARK?...

 In our culture today, everything is pretty much acceptable but no one is really held accountable.  Yet according to the Word of God everyone is loved and everyone is held accountable.  God’s love can’t not love. His love includes accountability.

The Word of God says all things are permissible, but not all things are beneficial.  God does not force us to love him or love others. We can choose to do anything we want…but really we need to look at the things we do under the covering of His Word.  Then we need to ask ourselves, am I a follower of Christ?  Do I love God? If so, is what I am choosing to do under the leadership of God and His Word or is it outside of His boundaries?

 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life…for God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

Jesus is our place of refuge.  We ALL have missed the mark.  None of us in our own strength hits the center of the target.  We all fall short in this life.  But GOD! Because of Christ, we have been given a place of refuge and safety from the penalty of our sin. Because of Christ we do not have to experience eternal separation from God when we die, if we believe with our heart and confess with our mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord.

My heart breaks when I see others pointing fingers and building walls between people groups basically saying, “YOUR SIN IS WORSE THAN MINE” Who are we that we have the audacity to point the finger at anyone?  How is this love? As followers of Christ we are to love one another.

No, we do not love one another’s sin, nor do we love our own sin.  We must not make it ok to be legalistic and self-righteous on either side of any issue.  Love values. Love honors, and love stands in truth, not in popular opinion.  God’s love doesn’t make my sin or your sin OK.

As people who love God, we must imitate Christ, and be a place of refuge for people who are hurting, lost, or broken in whatever way.  Christ’s love does not label or exclude.  Christ’s love is decisive, unrestricted, unrestrained, and unconditional. Anything else isn’t the love of God.

We all miss the mark; we all fall short of the glory of God.  God calls that sin.  Yet we have complete forgiveness in Christ.  For by grace we have been saved through faith, and that not of ourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast.

God’s love says I value you, I love you, you are accepted.  It also says I do not agree with your sin. Your sin is not ok.

God is the same yesterday, today and forever.  If we say that we love God and say that we are a follower of Christ, it is our personal responsibility to be accountable to the sin that God points out to us. 

A sin is a sin is a sin. 
Our sin misses the mark. 

The ground is level at the cross, and He has made a way for us.  It is up to us to choose if we are going to ignore His grace and mercy or receive it with open arms.
 
“Therefore be imitators of God as dear children and walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us…” Ephesians 5:1-2a