“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment… And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Matthew 22:37, 39
In both Greek and Hebrew archery terms, the word “sin” means “missing the mark,” that is—missing the target. Jesus said that the target is the Greatest Commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” The “target” is our relationship to God and to other people (and even nature). When we sin, we break relationships.
In this Lenten time of self-examination and reflection we remember why Jesus came. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Cor. 5:19 NKJV). “All this was done by God, who through Christ changed us from enemies into his friends and gave us the task of making others his friends also.” (2 Cor. 5:18 TEV)
Prayer: Lord, forgive us for the relationships we break, and thank you for restoring them through Christ.