“For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.” — Romans 11:36
Coming into Thanksgiving, hopefully we are taking the time to remember some of what we have to be thankful for; many of the things that we talked about last night at the Thanksgiving Potluck. One of the things I am thankful for is as I grow older, I remember stuff that I was taught a long time ago. One of the things I remember is this statement… you may have heard it as well… “You miss 100% of the targets you don’t shoot at!” Another is “Never take a long walk off a short pier!” But that is food for thought for another time. Lol!
But back to the missing 100% of all the targets you didn’t shoot at… this means forward progress in life is marked by having a target to aim at and actually pulling the trigger and going after that goal. Once that truth is firmly established, then the question to ask ourselves is: What target have I been aiming at lately? If Jesus is not the target—the center of our entire life—then we simply are not aiming at the right target.
The Bible makes it clear that everything we have is a gift of God; everything has come to us from Him and through Him. Because of this truth, there is nothing in our lives that does not belong to—and thus come under the authority of—the Lord Jesus Christ.
Think about it this way: In our walk as a single person, Jesus is the target. In our married life, Jesus is the target. In our parenting, Jesus is the target. In our professions, Jesus is the target. In our possessions, Jesus is the target. In our health, Jesus is the target. In our recreation, Jesus is the target. In our hobbies, Jesus is the target. Get it… there is nothing in our lives that does not belong to—and thus come under the authority of—the Lord Jesus Christ. “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.”
Make no mistake, autonomous living (living without Christ as the target of life… living without the structures that God has put in place for us… like sitting under the authority of the Word, praying individually and corporately, and receiving the sacraments with God’s people) is absolutely antithetical to the Christian life. When we think we can “do it on our own,” we delude ourselves.
Autonomous living is a killer for people. For we have been wired for intimacy, fellowship, and community with our Creator and His people. On top of that, we have been given the amazing privilege of being stewards of everything God created according to His Word. Yet the major problem we face as children of Adam is that we make everything other than Jesus the target of our lives and we move Him to the periphery, seeking to glorify ourselves rather than our Savior.
The key to keeping this from happening in our lives is by keeping Jesus as the target we aim at in all things. With Jesus at the very center of our lives and hopes, we rise above the mediocrity of living a life marked by self-fulfillment and self-centeredness. Shooting for this Timeless Target in every area of life keeps us busy advancing the cause of the Kingdom of Christ, rather than engaging in the trivial pursuit of our own little kingdom. And this is the only place where we find the purpose, meaning, and significance that makes life worth living.
So let’s ask ourselves this today: What target have I been aiming at lately? If Jesus is not the target—the center of our entire life—then we simply are not aiming at the right target. So when you shift your aim… GIVE THANKS!
God Bless y’all today!
In His Grip,
Pastor Mike
