Taking Aim

A young lady named Sally, relates an experience she had in a bible class,given by her teacher, Dr. Smith. She says Dr. Smith was known for his elaborate object lessons.

One particular day, Sally walked into bible class and knew they were in for a fun day. On the wall was a big target and on a nearby table were many darts. Dr. Smith told the students to draw a picture of someone that they disliked or someone who had made them angry, and he would allow them to throw darts at the person's picture.

Sally's girlfriend drew a picture of a girl who had stolen her boyfriend. Another friend drew a picture of his little brother. Sally drew a picture of a former friend, putting a great deal of detail into her drawing, even drawing pimples on the face. Sally was pleased at the overall effect she had achieved.

The class lined up and began throwing darts, with much laughter and hilarity. Some of the students threw their darts with such force that their targets were ripping apart. Sally looked forward to her turn, and was filled with disappointment when Dr. Smith, because of time limits, asked the students to return to their seats. As Sally sat thinking about how angry she was because she didn't have a chance to throw any darts at her target, Dr. Smith began removing the target from the wall. Underneath the target was a picture of Jesus...A complete hush fell over the room as each student viewed the mangled picture of Jesus; holes and jagged marks covered His face and His eyes were pierced.

Dr. Smith said these words, "In as much as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me." No other words were necessary; the tear-filled eyes of each student focused only on the picture of Christ. "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' Matthew 25:40

-- Author Unknown


I don't really know if that is a true story or not, but even if it's fabricated for emphasis, it really makes a point to me. I think about how many times I've even thought bad things about people, and even in my thoughts, I'm still doing it to Jesus as well.

Our "darts" that we throw each and every day are very dangerous. Dangerous for those they are inteded for, dangerous for the scars they leave on others along the way, and dangerous for us as Christians to realize that we are hurting Christ all over again by our actions.

The title of that story is Taking Aim, today I would encourage you to take aim at peace, forgiveness, mercy, and grace as we deal with others. Because we should never forget, the forgiveness, grace, and mercy we show others is exactly what Christ will show towards us one day. So, watch those darts!

Have a good weekend and I can't wait to see you Sunday,
-Gregg