The Dart Board

I took my son down to the rec. room the other night, and asked him to do me a favor. We came to our dart board and I handed him three darts. I said, "son, my will and desire for you is to throw the darts and hit the bulls-eye. I want you to try as hard as you can to hit the bull. Will you do that for me?" "Sure, Father", he said.

My son threw the first dart and it missed the board completely. He proceeded to throw the second and it landed in a double three. The last one, he tried a little harder to make it find its target, but alas landed on a single nine. He missed all three shots and fell short of hitting the mark desired.

I left the darts there and then asked him what punishment I should give him for missing the mark that I desired him to hit. He looked at me kind of funny, and said, "Why should I be punished for not hitting the mark you desired?" I said, "because you sinned". "What do you mean, I sinned?" "I didn't do anything but miss some mark that you set out for me to hit." "Why is that a sin?" I said, "because that is the definition of sin, missing the mark, thus in missing the mark I set out and desired you to hit, you sinned against my will and desire." "So because you sinned, I.E. missed the mark, you should be punished, don't you think?" He thought for a bit and said, "I don't think I should be punished for that." I replied, "your right son, you shouldn't, and that is how God sees you." "You see the Bible says in 2Cor.5:19 that 'God was in Christ, reconciling the world (kosmos) unto himself, NOT IMPUTING there trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.'"

The word, impute, means to hold accountable or to place to your account. God says that He does NOT hold us accountable for missing His mark of perfection or completeness. It means, not only that you are not held accountable for missing the bulls-eye, but that you never even threw the dart. This is not the same as having placed something on your account or ledger and then having erased it off when it is paid or balanced out. It means never having had the account touched at all. Nothing placed in it what-so-ever.

We went to the board and I drew out the darts. After chatting a bit, I said, "Can you tell where the darts landed?" He looked and replied, "no". "There are no marks left by the darts. They disappeared." "It's like I never threw them". "That's right son, YOU NEVER THREW THEM."

We look at the world around us and we believe that everyone in the world is in sin and has missed some mark, most of which has been placed there by man. But that which we see is not sin, but the fruit of sin, the result of sin or of missing "the" mark. But it is mans mark that we see broken or missed, not God's, for God says that we never threw the dart. Man looks at the world around them through the eyes of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and sets the arbitrary marks for man to follow. And Christianity is the worse offender, for they use the Scriptures to try to prove that man is in sin and has missed God's mark of perfection and Glory and is now separated from God. They lay rules and regulations on their followers and some even call them standards of holiness. This is a performance based Christianity that requires them to hit the mark that is set out by man and if it is not followed, they are held accountable and in sin. Would to God, we would listen to Him instead of what man lays upon us.

As far as God is concerned:

YOU NEVER THREW THE DART.

We sometimes have trouble explaining reconciliation to others, so that they understand the simplicity of the Good News. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself." Sometimes it is easier to show them. Next time you try to explain it and frustration sets in, take them to a dartboard.

Namaste

Sirius8
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