TODAY’S SIGNATURE VERSE ••• Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! (Psalm 139:23-24 ESV)
PRAISE & PRAYER PROMPT ••• I was working on a project yesterday when I reached up to touch my earlobe (a frequent habit)… And I realized my earring was missing. Since I wear my grandmother’s diamond earrings 100% of the time, it should not be surprising that I had a bit of a panic attack. Especially since I had just returned home from the bank, the post office, and Panera Bread. The earring could be anywhere. I was trying not to cry as I prayed and tried to remember that as much as I value my grandmother’s jewelry, it is “stuff.”
We had been down a car yesterday because Wayne’s van was at the shop for inspection, so my mom had loaned me hers for my errands/meeting. Since I’d just been driving it, I called her. And praise the Lord—my earring was in the seat. With the back on.
Apparently, when I had briefly removed the earring at a traffic light to scratch my earlobe, I thought I’d reinserted it, but had simply put the back on it and let go. Clearly, I missed the mark.
And sometimes—we miss the mark in life. We mess up unintentionally. We sin without realizing we’ve sinned, until later, when we are faced with the consequences of our carelessness.
According to my Logos Bible Software and one definition of “sin” is “miss a mark.” The Hebrew word for this definition is חטא. One such example חטא is found in Leviticus 4:22-23. It says, “When a leader sins, doing unintentionally any one of all the things that by the commandments of the Lord his God ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt, or the sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring as his offering a goat, a male without blemish…” (ESV).
Let’s restate verse 22 with the “miss the mark” definition…
“When a leader [misses the mark], doing unintentionally any one of all the things that by the commandments of the Lord his God ought not to be done…”
Whether we sin intentionally or unintentionally, we all miss the mark. Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (ESV). Thankfully, we serve a God who understands our weaknesses and loves us despite our failures. He knows us better than we know ourselves and is willing to forgive us when the moment we repent.
2 Corinthians 2:5a ESV says, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves” and just as David wrote in Psalm 139:23-24 ESV, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” In our efforts to become more like Christ, this is self-examination and prayer we should do/pray daily.
Today, as you pray, thank God for His grace and forgiveness. Thank Jesus for covering all of your sins—both intentional and unintentional. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you identify where you miss the mark so you can repent and make changes to be more like Jesus.
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