HAMMERING NAILS IN A PIECE OF LUMBER (PLANK)

I go to an adult Sunday school class at my local church. Our teacher (Pastor Darold Sauer) told us an interesting story two Sundays ago. It is worth repeating here. I am pretty sure he wouldn't mind that I am telling it.

'A teacher had a bunch of boisterous kids in his sunday school class. He decided to bring a piece of lumber (plank), some nails and hammers to class so that he could keep his class occupied in some activity. He asked each student to pick a nail and hammer it into the wood. The class had a lot of fun with the hammer and nails. The strong ones made sure that the nails went in as deep as the energy from the swing of the hammer could allow. When evryone had their nail in, the teacher asked the class to take the nails out since it was too dangerous to live them that way. Those whose nails went in the deepest had some struggles but they eventually got their nails out. Some nails had gone in at an angle. These lnails eft some very ugly marks when they were pulled out. Eventually, the piece of lumber was free of nails but it had lots of ugly marks and gaping holes.'

The story illustrates the reality of sin. God forgives us unconditionally. The reality though is that we remain with those dark memories or scars of our past, some of them extremely painful to even talk about. It is for this reason that one should flee from sin. One man who did this very courageously was Joseph (formerly sold into slavery by his brothers), to the point of living his jacket in the hands of Mrs Potipher who wanted to lie with him. A dear friend of mine used to say, "Don't smile at sin. Flee like Joseph."