A few nights later, the kids looked across the river and saw Dave’s campfire again. So, they got their rowboat and crossed the river so that they could hear another campfire story from Dave.
Dave welcomed the kids and asked them if they knew what archery was. One of the kids answered and said that it was using bow and arrows. Dave was pleased that they knew what archery was and told them that archery was one of the activities at camp.
They have targets set up in a field far away from other activities so that an arrow that misses the target will not hurt anyone. They spend time talking about safety and make the kids always practice safety. After that, they are shown how to hold the bow and shoot an arrow at the target.
At first the kids cannot even hit the target. It takes practice to hold the bow steady while aiming and shooting the arrow. After awhile some of the arrows start to hit the target, but just hitting the target is not good enough! The goal is to hit the bull’s eye in the center of the target.
There is a prize for hitting the bull’s eye! Usually, it is a free can of pop or a candy bar. The kids want the prize, so they concentrate and do their best to win the prize!
We can learn more about God by comparing the life of a believer to archery! When a person prays and asks Jesus to forgive their sins and come into their life, this is just the beginning of their new life! The goal of the new life is to become more like Jesus! We need to aim to get to know Him better and to become more like Him. Just like the kids at camp concentrated and did their best to win the archery prize, each believer in Jesus needs to focus on living their life in a way that please Jesus and want to become more like Him!
In the Bible in Philippians 3:12-14 it says:
I have not yet received all these things. I have not yet reached my goal. Christ Jesus took hold of me so that I could reach that goal. So I keep pushing myself forward to reach it. Brothers and sisters, I don’t consider that I have taken hold of it yet. But here is the one thing I do. I forget what is behind me. I push hard toward what is ahead of me. I push myself forward toward the goal to win the prize. God has appointed me to win it. The heavenly prize is Christ Jesus Himself.
Until we reach the end of this life on earth, we must not give up! We must always be aiming toward the goal of knowing Jesus better and becoming more like Him. We do not have the strength or the power to do this on our own, but Jesus Himself has promised to help us along the way. Always keep praying and asking Jesus to help us to keep aiming toward the goal!