Submitted by Kevin Erickson on January 30, 2009 - 1:15am.

     "But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, just as sin exercised dominion in death, so grace might also exercise dominion through justification leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 5.20-21).

     "Learning," that’s the stage of discipline that Rob will be discussing during the message this week. Have you ever thought about sin as an example of learning? It’s a lot easier to do when you think of it as “missing the mark” (the literal Greek meaning of the word “sin”). Doesn’t seem nearly so bad, now does it? Which of us goes through life without missing the mark occasionally…or rather, often? Let’s face it, we all regularly miss the mark.

     In fact, so much so that I’ve often wondered if God built it into the big-picture plan from the start. I mean, c’mon, God created us, she knew that we weren’t her. She knew that we were given free will. She knew that sometimes we would need to make the wrong choice in order to learn. Psalm 103.14 says that, “As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him. For he knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust.” Now you can’t expect dust not to make a mistake now and then.

     It seems then that it is in the contrast between the felt experience of "missing the mark" and "hitting the mark" that we learn and get a better feel for how to follow, for how to grow. Any of you out there like me…it isn’t until after you’ve made the choice, until after you’ve made the mistake, that it becomes clear that you’ve missed the mark. We take a look around at the negative consequences for the choice that we’ve just made and we can’t help but admit that we’ve erred. “The results speak for themselves.”

     But then, something amazing happens -- or at least it can if we don’t get in the way. In that gap between having just missed the mark and making our next choice, grace happens. God catches us in a “teachable moment.” The Apostle Paul puts it perfectly when he writes, “but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5.20). Our failure is God’s opportunity. I guess you could say that God is the ultimate opportunist.

     Hopefully by this time, God’s got our attention and he begins to show us a better way -- if we’re willing to listen, if we’re willing to get out of his way and follow in faith. Hesitantly, we take that next small step in response to his lead, and this time our foot lands on solid ground. This time, we’ve hit the bull’s eye, and at least in this one area of our life, we can now stride forward in confidence, in God’s grace. We know better than to make the wrong choice again. All that target practice is finally paying off. We’re learning how to show discipline.

     Lord Jesus, thank you for accepting me as I am, in my sin, so that by your grace you can teach me how to learn. Thank you for accepting me as I learn today, so that I can grow tomorrow. Help me to resist the desire to control, manipulate, and manage, so that your grace can have the opportunity to take hold in my life and show me a better way. Help me to pause in the time after my sins, so that I can better attend to what you would have me learn.

     Amen.

Meditations