Hammer and Nails

I have a bulletin board on the wall over my desk.
Appointment cards are there, the Bible study schedule for the year, and other reminders.
Colorful push pins hold the various things in place.
Some things that are scheduled out for a few months have their place on the bulletin board.

It was not until I had to take my hair cut appointment card down that I noticed it.
After each month, I cross off the appointment on the printout the salon gave me.
At the top of the paper were numerous holes from the push pins.
I was not that careful about putting the pins back in the same place.

Things that come off the board only to be put back again have holes as well.
Marks are left from the last pin.
New marks are made as the pin is inserted in a different place.
The pins leave their mark.

I remember reading a story a long time ago that I have never forgotten.
The author was unknown.
Though the story was simple, the truth it expounded was profound.
It has stayed with me all these years.

A young boy had a problem with his temper.
Nothing his father did to control the boy’s temper seemed to work.
The effects of a punishment or consequence were short-lived.
The young boy quickly returned to his old ways.

The father was at his wits end.
How could he make his son understand the ugliness of his temper?
How could he show his son the effects his temper had on others?
One day the father had a brilliant idea.

A post and rail fence ran along their property.
He called his son and walked outside with him.
He carried a hammer and a bag of nails.
He brought his son to a specific place along the fence.

He handed his son the hammer and the bag of nails.
Every time you are about to lose your temper, I want you to come out to this fence.
I want you to hammer a nail in the fence instead of lashing out at someone.
The boy searched his father’s eyes to see if he was being serious.

The father left the hammer and the bag of nails with his son and walked back into the house.
The next day, the boy was angry and about to lose his temper.
He went outside and hammered a nail in the fence.
Before he went to bed, he was ready to lose his temper again but hammered a nail instead.

This went on for days.
Some days there were quite a few nails hammered into the fence.
Some days there were only a few.
After about a month, there were a few days when no nail was hammered at all.

Finally, there were more days when the boy did not hammer a nail than days that he did.
He went to tell his father.
He did not want to say that he would never lose his temper again.
However, he did want to tell his father that his temper was more under control.

The father told the son what he was to do.
Every day that you do not lose your temper, you may remove a nail from the fence.
There was satisfaction in removing the nails.
One day, the young boy noticed that there were no more nails to remove from the fence.

The young boy went in the house to tell his father.
The father told the young boy that he was very proud of him.
Come outside with me, the father said to his son.
The father took his son to the fence.

All the nails were gone just as the young boy said.
The father pointed to something the young boy had not noticed before.
Even though the nails were gone, the holes were still there.
Every place the nail had been now had a hole that remained.

Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:24-31)

We are like the young boy.
We may not have a temper but we have other sins that we do every day.
We recognize our sins and confess them to the Father with sincerity of heart.
We may not have a literal hammer and a bag of nails but we leave a sin tainted mark.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

When we come to the Father in forgiveness, we are forgiven.
Our sin tainted mark is on our Lord Jesus’ hands.
That is why Thomas confessed, My Lord and my God.
Thomas knew that he was complicit in the death of Jesus.

We all were.
We may not have been the ones driving the nails but our sins were on that spike.
We may not have been the ones scourging our Lord, but our sins were braided in that whip.
We may not have been the ones who fled but we abandon Him when things get hard.

We may not have been in the courtyard, denying Him three times.
However, we deny Him with our words and our actions every day.
We may not have been the one who betrayed Him with a kiss.
However, we betray Him quite often, even when we say that we belong to Him.

When we come to Christ in repentance and ask for forgiveness, we are forgiven.
The nails of our sin that were hammered in the Fence are gone.
However, our sins have left a mark.
That mark will be there for all eternity on the hands and feet of our Lord Jesus.

They are wounds of love.
They are the wounds He took in our place.
They are the reminders of what He saved us from: the wrath of a holy God.
Jesus is the Fence that took the hammered nails in our place.

It is finished.
The marks remain on Him as a reminder of how much He loves us.
The holes in His hands, and feet, and side will cause us to fall at His feet in worship.
Our Lord Jesus was hammered in our place.

Oh, what a Savior.

 

2 responses to “Hammer and Nails”

1. This reminds me of a truth my father told me– When someone hurts you it’s like a nail driven into a piece of wood. Even when you forgive them, the hole is still there. (the memory) How blessed we are that when true forgiveness is given to us by Christ’s sacrifice, the holes of our sins are taken away from God’s memory.

   Reply

   • Amen, Sue!
     Jesus bore the wrath of God and died in our place.
     We serve a Risen Lord.
     Gina

     Reply