Not about the “Nail”

If you haven’t already seen the YouTube clip “It’s not about the nail,” you should humor me by taking a few minutes to watch it. This past week it seems the reoccurring theme of sin has been the topic of different discussions I have had with others and with God. Be it about temptations, having enemies or the fall of man, they have all led me back to the problem of sin. It’s a topic no one wants to talk about and everyone can relate with.  In his book “The Me I Want to Be,” John Ortberg presents the idea that our temptations are unique to each of us much like our finger prints are each our own. If this is true, then you could argue that our sin is too.

For myself I have discovered that much of the sin I have been stumbling around in lately comes from a temptation that speaks to a deeper longing I am looking to fulfill with misguided judgment. Just like Eve in the Garden, we can often find ourselves deceived by taking that which looks fulfilling and good for gaining wisdom, only to receive the shame and guilt from our sin. It can become the never ending cycle of bondage that keeps us from living life more abundantly in Christ. We will never know that kind of freedom if we don’t seek the love and forgiveness He gives us in dealing with our sin, and remind ourselves that He is the only one who can satisfy our deeper longing that brought us to that point in first place.

This is where the video clip comes in, because much like the woman with the nail in her head, I will sometimes sit in denial and tell God that my sin is not the problem. I come to Him with all the grief and misery resulting from my sin and argue that all I need from Him is His understanding, which thankfully He gives, but arguably that’s not really what I need. Instead I ought to receive His forgiveness and allow Him to pluck the nail from my head.

What is the nail in your head? The unfulfilled longings you’re trying to fill on your own?  Are you able to recognize your sin and allow God to take it from you? There is grace and freedom to be had in the asking. Let Him remove it and love you in this way.