I feel so humbled that the Lord would even consider to tell me something this powerful.
I didn’t want to do it! I didn’t want to pick it up. I tried to resist picking up the hammer; but I could not. No one put it in my hands and no one forced me to pick it up. I picked it up on my own free will.
But even though I picked up the hammer at my birth, I didn’t use it for quite a while. I couldn’t lay it down though. It’s as if it was stuck to my hand. No matter how hard I tried to lay down the hammer and walk away from it; I couldn’t let it go! It didn’t get in the way as I laid on my bed and slept a lot, and when I needed a bottle, it never obstructed my hands when I was able to hold my own bottle. It seemed that everything I did as an infant, the hammer was never a problem or a hindrance of any sort. I just couldn’t lay it down!
I noticed as I became a toddler, that the hammer was always by my side, and in my hand. I asked my mommy why this was in my hand, but she could not answer me. Years seemed to go by and I started school. I loved my mommy and daddy and they loved me. They were my world. But when I started school, something happened inside me. I saw other kids at school not behaving and some of them acted mean and did wrong things. I didn’t want to do those things because I knew they were wrong. But something seemed to be drawing me toward those things that were not right. One day, a friend of mine told me to pull a girl’s hair. I said, “Why?” “What did she do for me to pull her hair?” “Why don’t you do it,” I asked him. He said “Because.” So, feeling like I had no choice, I reached over to the girl and I pulled her hair. She cried out very loudly, and began to cry with tears. The teacher came over to us and asked what happened, and my friend squealed on me and I got in trouble for pulling the girl’s hair. But right at that moment, I felt my hand grip the hammer slightly tighter than it had ever been before. But for then, at that time, that is all that happened.
Many years go by and that same grip that I felt tighten in my hand on the hammer that day, never released. It stayed the same.
So now, after a few more years have gone by, I am in middle school and I try to make good grades and do all of my homework and stay out of trouble, but there are these guys at school. I start hanging around with them and even outside of school. We are all around thirteen years old. One day, my friends and I, are at a convenience store looking around. We went there to get a slurpie. While we were standing near the candy aisle, one of my friends told me to put a candy bar in my pocket and walk out. I didn’t want to do it, but again, I felt weird inside, as if I couldn’t resist stealing the candy bar, so I did it anyway. When I got outside, I ran. I never did get caught, but all of a sudden, I felt my hand grip that hammer even tighter than it did years before. I still didn’t really understand why this was attached to my hand, but yet, it was never in the way of anything I ever participated in. Such as baseball, fishing, eating, doing my chores and such.
One day, I got in an argument with my mom, and I was around sixteen or seventeen years old by now. I stormed out of the house and jumped into my car and drove off. Then it happened again! The grip of my hand got really tight on the hammer this time. It felt as if I was holding the hammer tight enough to be using it. I felt like I was driving nails into a board or something. But I still could not let it go! Now, at seventeen, I am noticing this hammer a lot more, and the grip seems to tighten on it a lot more and more often than when I was younger.
As I was driving in an angry rage, I started driving a little too fast for the speed limit. The grip got even tighter. Next thing I know, a blue light and a siren was behind me. I got pulled over and was given a ticket for speeding. Again, the grip gets tighter.
So it seems at this point, the grip my hand has on the hammer is so tight, that I feel like I am using it all the time. I even said once, “Boy, if I was driving some nails in a board with this hammer, with the grip that I have on it, being as tight as it is; I would probably drive the nails all the way through the board and out the other side.”
Little did I know, that is exactly what I was doing. But not in my physical life, in a tangible board that we can see, and touch; but into a board, and first through the hands and feet of Jesus. What I never realized or understood growing up, is that when I was born, there was a hammer lying right next to me as I was being born; and just as my birth was completed; I reached down and picked up that hammer. But I was not the only one to do that. Everyone of us, that has ever been born into this world; reached down and picked up their own hammer, at their birth, and has carried it around since that day.
After I was taught many things in church over the years, I realized that I was a sinner. I was born into sin, and I am guilty of putting Jesus on the cross; as we all are. I am just as guilty of driving the nails into Jesus’ hands and feet, as the soldier that was there, that actually DID drive the nails into Jesus. But even after I came to that realization and I repented of being one that drove the nails into Jesus; I found that I still could not lay down that hammer and walk away from it. Was I sorry for using my hammer on Jesus? You bet I was sorry, and I am still sorry to this day for ANYTIME, that I have ever used my hammer.
I didn’t ask to be born into sin. I didn’t go to a store of sorts, and pick off the shelf, a life of sin to be born into. I wasn’t given a choice to be born into sin or to be born without sin. Humanity was not given a choice in this matter. Even to this day, as I have been born-again, and I have a relationship with Christ, I can still see that hammer in my hand. Do I want to use it? No way, not on your life! But WILL I use it? Yes, I will, but it will be completely against my conscious desires to never use my hammer again!
Sadly, the world continually uses their hammer on Jesus daily. Many do not even know they have a hammer in their hand, and those that do know; may not be acting upon what they know, in an attempt to cease from using their hammer. For someone to act upon the attempts to cease from using their own hammer against Jesus; is to come to know the Lord Jesus Christ, begin a relationship with him, and to fulfill God’s salvation plan. But even then, we still cannot lay the hammer down and walk away from it.
Being that we are all born into sin, there is the nature of sin within us all. This is something that is really above our comprehension; to know what it really means to have a sinful nature within us, but as well, to never have experienced or lived in this life in the flesh without the nature of sin within us. Many times this subject goes beyond what words can convey for a satisfied understanding. But what we must do, is to seek the face of God daily, and make a commitment to him that we will never relinquish on. We must become faithful to God, as to the best of our abilities; and have the frame of mind that we are “sold-out” to him, no matter what. As we grow and mature in God, learning more about how to live life in this world, free from the bondage of sin; we will always be forever facing the temptations of sin, as it always tries to lure us into committing sinful acts that will bring pleasure to our flesh man in some form or another.
The hammer that we have attached to us, is itself, the nature of sin that we were all born into; as a result of the fall of man through Adam and Eve. It is that sinful nature that when we yield to it and “cross the line” within ourselves, we commit the act of sin that we were lured into; and thus, we use our hammer and drive the nails into Jesus a little deeper each time when we do fail.
The Bible states in Psalm 51:5, Behold I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Humanity was not just born into sin at our birth; but according to God’s Word, we were all conceived in sin. We were all shapen in iniquity,( which is defined as, Wickedness; a wicked act). So all of humanity was conceived in sin, as a result of the fall of Adam and Eve.
Even though we carry a hammer, ( the nature of sin), with us, and have not the ability to lay it down and walk away from it; we can with God’s help; strive to live above the nature of sin, and fight against it through prayer, asking for God’s strength to help us to resist yielding to the sin that so tempts us daily.
We must be renewed in our minds, and our thoughts need to be more on things of God. Romans 12:2, And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,…. We also need to focus on helping those in their time of need. The old saying goes, “There is always someone worse off than you are”; and with that in mind, we can always be ready to help someone else as best as we can; and this is one of many ways to keep from using the hammer in our hands.
So in conclusion, we were all conceived in sin and we were all born into the nature of sin at our birth. We also have a hammer in our hands, that we use to drive the nails into Jesus, which results from the sin we commit in our lives. We may not have the ability to lay down our hammers, ( the nature of sin), and walk away from it and never sin again. But what we can do is this, trust God, pray to him, maintain a relationship with him, read his word daily, stay committed to him, and desire to live above the sinful nature that haunts us all. If we choose to follow God and learn of his ways, and know that the scripture is true, then when we apply Philippians 4:13, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me; to our own lives, then we can be assured that God will help us to resist the sin, and therefore we will not use the hammer that we HAD to pick up without a choice.
6-12-12
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