Hit the Target

Matt Emmons was anticipating winning his second gold medal in the 2004 Olympics. One shot remained and the celebration would begin. Competing in the fifty-meter, three-position rifle competition, he held his breath and squeezed off the final round, a bull's-eye! Oh happy day!

But something wasn't right. Three Olympic officials approached him with the horrible news. His last shot hit the wrong target, in lane three, while he was firing from lane two. He went from standing on the podium to not even placing, from the penthouse to the outhouse in a matter of seconds. Failing to hit the target, you don't win the prize.

What is the bullseye for the church that Jesus promised would prevail? What is the target that Christ followers should be focussing upon more than any other, so that one day they hear the words of Jesus, "well done though good and faithful servant"?

Robert Lewis commented,

The true measures of a church are not "how many" but "how loving," not "how relevant" but "how real."

1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV)

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Are you on target? How do you know?