We've Just Learned to paint

A young man one day was on his way to visit a friend named John who lived on a farm. He entered the farm and began to meander up the road that led to his friend’s home. He had to pass by a barn and as he got near to it, he stopped, perplexed. He saw something that both mesmerized and stupefied him. On the barn were twenty targets. In the middle of each target was a bull’s-eye, and in the middle of each bull’s-eye was a hole. Someone had used the barn as target practice and however it was, was a crack shot. There were no other holes on the barn except the holes in the bull’s-eyes, centered in the targets. He couldn’t believe it. He started back up the road to the house. When he met up with John at the house, he said, ‘‘before we begin our day together, I’ve just got to ask you, who in the world did the shooting on the barn?’’ John said, ‘‘Well I did.’’ The man looked surprised and said,’ Wait a minute! There are twenty targets, with twenty bullseyes, with twenty holes in each bullseye. You mean to tell me you did that?’’ John said, ‘‘Yep, I made every shot.’’ ‘‘Where in the world…how in the world did you learn to shoot like that?’’ John said, ‘‘It’s simple, I shot first, then I drew a picture of the target around the hole.’’

A lot of us are just like John. Maybe we know the right words to say; maybe we know how to dress up for church on Easter. But it’s not so much that we’ve hit the bull’s-eye, we’ve just learned to paint well. It’s possible to go through the motions and not live a life on target.

You have a choice to make. It’s the most important decision you will ever make. It all comes down to this. This is a moment that changes everything.

You are faced with the reality of the gospel. The perfect and sinless life of Christ, His death for you on the cross, His victorious resurrection and His offer of salvation. You are forced to make a choice. You can see for yourself and respond in repentance and faith, or you can hear the story, choose not to believe, and remain unchanged, unsaved and under judgment.
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This changes everything; it is that moment that separates victory from defeat, winning from losing, life from death.