Punished by our sins

We are not so much punished for our sins as by our sins. Through our sins, we punish ourselves.

Incidentally, the Bible's word for "sin" is an archery term meaning "to miss the mark." It assumes a “good” intent for accuracy. The archer has taken an arrow from its quiver; has struck it to the bow, drawn the string, aimed and let the arrow fly. Unfortunately, the aim may be off slightly or totally off, with the result of not hitting the “bullseye,” the dead-middle of the target zone. Some make a BIG issue of a small miss, but even if we hit the outer ring on the target we get a few points. If, on the other hand, we miss the target completely, remember that the arrows are made by God, who always has another arrow for us to use.

God deals with us only in honesty, and cannot penetrate the lies we tell ourselves. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” (John 8:32) By the lies we tell ourselves we block our receptive understanding of that truth, and we bind ourselves to our own lies.

We all make mistakes; sometimes such big ones that we cannot undo the damage we’ve done. Then we often tell ourselves another lie to cover the previous damaging one. When that happens, it takes a course correction of being brutally honest with ourselves. Sometimes our correction requires only a very small movement. Sometimes it is a complete about face of 180°.

What course correction do you need; 5°, 45°, 180°?