Check Your Aim

In 2004, USA athlete Matt Emmons was dominating the 50-meter rifle competition during the Summer Olympic Games.

Stepping up to the final shot in the competition, his combined score was already so far ahead of the other competitors that he only had to hit anywhere on the target to win and secure his victory. As he took a deep breath and zeroed in on the target, he confidently pulled the trigger and looked up to see on the big screen the victory bullet mark that would secure his medal.

Emmons and the entire world quickly became confused when no mark was found on his target. Emmons became confused and argumentative, confident he hit his target to secure his victory. However, the dreadful truth came out. When Emmons zeroed in on his target, little did he know he aimed for the one next to his. The result? Emmons not only lost his guaranteed gold medal but fell out of the competition entirely.

We can learn a valuable lesson from Emmons. He spent his last round aiming at the wrong target and never even knew it until he looked up, but by then, it was too late. As we go through this life, we must remember what we aim at is what we will shoot. If we go through life aiming at the target of popularity, perfection, money, possessions and titles, we will get to the end of our life and look up and realize we missed the entire point of our life, losing everything, with no way to get it back.

God teaches us and promises that if we aim for the target of His Kingdom, targets of love, service, gratitude, humbleness and holiness, we will get to the end of our lives and see that we hit the target every single time.

Let’s continually check our heart’s aim and make sure we are aiming for Kingdom and eternal targets, not worldly and temporary targets.