The cost of anger!

 

There once was a young boy with a very bad temper. The boy's father wanted to show him that he could overcome his tantrums and decided to encourage him to change, so he gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper he must hammer a nail into their wooden fence.

The first day of this lesson was not a good one for the boy, and by the evening he had lost his temper thirty seven times.  As he looked at the nails he had driven into the fence, he felt quite ashamed.

Over the course of the next few weeks, the boy began to control his anger, so the number of nails that were hammered into the fence each day dramatically decreased.

It was not long before the little boy discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Then, the day finally came when the little boy did not lose his temper even once, and he became so proud of himself, he could not wait to tell his father.

His father was delighted, but he now suggested to his son that he should now pull out one nail for each day that he could hold his temper.

Several weeks went by and the day finally came when the young boy was able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.

Very gently, the father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence.  Together they stood and looked at the fence which was now covered by the marks of the nails.

"You have done very well, my son," said the father smiling, "but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same."

The little boy listened carefully as his father continued to speak.

"When you say things in anger, they leave permanent scars just like these. And no matter how many times you say you're sorry, the wounds will still be there."

We all do things and say things that we may regret later, but sadly we cannot go back and undo them.  Our actions leave a mark on our lives just as the nails left a mark on the fence.

The father in today’s story used nails to show his son what his temper meant. As a Holy God looks upon our shortcomings He shows His plan using the same means – nails.  But these nails were not hammered into a fence, but into the hands and feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our failures cannot be undone, but Jesus died so that they might be forgiven.  Through faith and trust in Him we can know that God the Father has dealt with it all and completely blotted out every mark.

But the nail marks remain and will forever remind us of the amazing love of God shown to us through Jesus Christ the Lord.

Key Bible Verses

Psalm 37:8

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

Acts 13:26-41

“Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm,

“‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’

And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way,

“‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’

Therefore he says also in another psalm,

“‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’

For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, but he whom God raised up did not see corruption. Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about:

“‘Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.’”

DAILY MESSAGES WITH MEANING (19/01/26)

Written by STEPHEN TRESEDER 

All photos courtesy of Unsplash 

The Old Rugged Cross

A couple of years ago I attended an exciting wedding! To be honest, I did more than attend a wedding; I was invited to play the piano during the ceremony and leading up to the main event.

I arrived at the venue about 45 minutes before the Bride arrived and started playing about 30 minutes in advance. I had a good stock of music on my iPad and in my head. As I relaxed and got settled in, the task became easier, and the music seemed to flow. I love playing music, but playing in front of an audience raises the stakes and produces some tension. 

Easter - Notoriety

The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning of notoriety as ‘Famous for some bad quality or deed’. In April 2015 Andreas Lubitz committed an act of notoriety! Downing the Germanwings plane in the French Alps put him among a tragic group of men. Perhaps he does not equal Hitler’s henchmen in notoriety by murdering millions of Jews and other nationalities in their deliberate plan to conquer the world. But that is no consolation to the 150 families who mourn their loved one’s death caused by this futile criminal act.

Who was Jesus?

Photo courtesy of Storyblocks

Mar 15:39 And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.

Photo courtesy of Storyblocks

 All that the centurion witnessed on that historic day brought him to this conclusion ‘truly this man was the Son of God’ As we consider all that the Saviour said and did, we conclude the same. How fundamental is this truth in days when so many try to deny it!

 Our passage today brings us to Calvary and reminds us of all that happened there. This day was pivotal in the history of the world. It was planned before the world began, spoken of in the Garden of Eden and illustrated by pictures and type throughout the Bible.

The Lord Jesus Christ is at the centre of these events as the Lamb of God that bears away the sin of the world. Have you been to the foot of the cross and realised what the Saviour did for you? Have you bowed the knee in repentance and believed in your heart that it was for you personally that He died? Do you believe that the man who died on that cross that day was none other than the Son of God? If not, then this remains the single most important thing that you can do in your life. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved!

Jesus Christ was a unique man. He was unique in His birth; born of a virgin Mat 1:23. He was unique in His life; in Him is no sin 1 Jn 3:5. He was unique in His death; death had no claim on Him. He was unique in His resurrection. There have been those who set out to disprove this truth of the resurrection and ended up writing about the evidence that supports it after they themselves came to trust the one that they wanted to disprove. Truly this man was the Son of God!  

What would you give for a Sports Car?

All photos courtesy of Unsplash 

A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautiful wrapped gift box. Curious, but somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man's name embossed in gold. Angrily, he raised his voice to his father and said, "With all your money you give me a Bible?" He then stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible on his father’s desk.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and a wonderful family, but realizing his father was very old, he thought perhaps he should go to see him. He had not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make the arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things.

When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search through his father's important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. As he was reading, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words... "PAID IN FULL".

Sometimes the packaging can be deceptive. Every year in December we commemorate the birth of a child who came in humility – born into a working class family and laid in a manger.

To the religious and influential of His day, this child was unacceptable because, in their eyes, He came packaged wrongly.  In their judgement He was from the wrong place, brought up in the wrong family, and taught things that clashed with their traditions. They wanted a king born in a palace to become their Messiah and they could not accept a humble servant as their king.

Sadly even today people find the servant heart of the Lord Jesus Christ unacceptable. He just does not fit in with their expectations. 

On the other hand, the ones who discover His true worth discover the reality of the words, “To those who received Him, to them gave He the authority to become the children of God.”

Written by Stephen Treseder For Messages with Meaning (18/04/21) and Your542Day