Friday, October 25, 2013
By: Rachelle Hitt Bilbo
Target Practice
Philippians 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
My husband recently bought my son a little nerf gun with foam arrows and a target. What's amazing is that my toddler is able to hit the bull's eye EVERY time. Good aim? Of course...I think so....after all, he's my child, and I think he's amazing - lol.
Truthfully though, he lies on his stomach like a soldier at war and holds the gun out ONE inch from the target. Then, he gets SO excited that he has "made it"... as if there was even the slightest chance he could possibly miss from that distance.
His approach to reaching his target really spoke to me on several levels. So often, we try to reach targets in life by aiming from several feet...or maybe even MILES away. Then when we do not achieve the success we had hoped for, we give up all together.
For example, if you had to take a big test but did not study, you would have truly distanced yourself from your goal...making success difficult if not impossible.
In addition to the distance we can place between ourselves and our goals, we can also allow obstacles and distractions to come between us and our victories...specifically our victories in God.
Often when trying to "reach" God, individuals feel that God has abandoned them. That is never the case. While sometimes God can be quiet, often times we're just living our lives so loudly that we can't hear Him. Moreover, MANY times, we allow distractions or things to separate us from our Savior.
Isaiah 59:1-2 says, "Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear."
When we find ourselves in situations where we feel like we don't "hear" God or that He cannot "hear" us, it is important to evaluate if we have allowed sin, distractions or the busy-ness of life to separate us from His voice....and ultimately from Him.
While sin separates all of us from God, His arm is NEVER too short to save. There are no hopeless cases. I challenge you today to daily work on drawing nearer to God...removing anything that could hinder you from His presence. When doing so, James 4:8 promises that He WILL then draw near to you!
Dear Lord, I ask You to forgive me for my sins. Show me anything in my life that may cause me not to hear Your voice as clearly and as loudly as I should.
I thank You, my Jesus, for dying for me. I believe that You are Lord and that God raised You from the grave so that I can have eternal life.
