I Missed!

Romans 3:23: “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”
I was sitting 20 feet above the frozen Saskatchewan ground shivering uncontrollably in a porcelain-coated cast iron bathtub (yea, bathtub and surely the coldest stand in history) strapped between two big poplars when a doe charged into the small clearing I was watching. Her hunkered down posture and raised tail told me a buck would soon follow. Seconds later he did…and what a buck he was – massive with tines like “coke bottles!” My mind shouted, “Shoot!”, but instead, I held onto my binoculars and counted tines, burning invaluable time. “Only a 9-point”, I realized. Then he faced me, revealing a 25-inch spread and long, wrapping beams. My mind spoke again, “Book buck!”

To make a long and sordid story short, the buck jabbed the doe in the rear. She ran and he pursued. I hastily grabbed my 7 mag and fired just as the buck disappeared into the Canadian wilderness. I knew I had missed…and forever lost an irreplaceable trophy.

Deer hunting is not the only place I’ve “missed the mark.” I do so every day in life. You see, the word “sin” actually means “to miss the mark” of God’s perfection. We all come up short. Every one of us sins – lots! The Bible says “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” And sin has a far greater cost than missing the mark on a trophy buck! The Bible says “…the wages of sin is death…” But unlike missing in deer hunting, there is a remedy – God’s unconditional forgiveness through grace! For those who know Jesus as Lord, we are “justified (forgiven) as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus…” Amazingly, grace is a free gift we don’t deserve and can’t earn. It was bought by the Precious Blood of Christ on the Cross and is available to all who simply accept it. Thank God…for I miss the mark every day!

Posted by David Morris 


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