THE FIRST NAIL

Brother Tony Ares reviewed the Navy Seals movie "Lone Survivor" on his blog, A Fresh Word .  In one paragraph, Tony compared the Seals' willingness to push through pain to the calling of Christians in the church. 

Tony wrote, "What if Jesus had quit after the first nail?"

WHAT IF JESUS HAD QUIT AFTER THE FIRST NAIL?

The “FIRST nail” meant that the worst thing that had ever happened to Him was going to get WORSE.

It does seem to just get worse and worse, doesn't it? 

The more you forgive them the more the hurt you, huh?

You try so hard to do right, but you can't catch a break. 

Every fool and form of foolishness known to Earth seems to find its way to your doorstep.

Well, guess what?

It's probably going to get even worse than this.

You may have only felt the FIRST nail.

I’m sorry.  That wasn’t the Word of comfort you were looking for, was it?  That wasn’t the declare-and-decree-that-your-haters-can’t-touch-you message you wanted, was it?

Scripture promises victory to the faithful. But Scripture does not promise easy victory.  God does NOT promises that you won’t be wounded, that you won’t suffer.

The weapons formed against you won’t prosper, but they will be formed against you (Isaiah 54: 17).  You have a shield of faith to quench the fiery darts of the devil, which means that the missiles will be launched after you (Ephesians 6: 16).   You will be restored, but restoration necessarily first requires LOSS (Joel 2).

Jesus promised that if we sacrificed for His sake we would receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.

The middle of that promise includes an nonnegotiable condition: WITH PERSECUTIONS.

PLURAL. Persecutions.

There will be more than one nail.

But what if Jesus had quit after the first nail?

There would be no empty tomb, no Resurrection Sunday, no glorious Ascension, no Holy Spirit on Pentecost, and no hope of salvation except by living absolutely perfectly according to a law that not even God had been able to fulfill.

What if you quit before the final nail?

You’ll miss your blessing, your breakthrough, your “getting’ up mo’nin’.” 

The nails are not mistakes, they are the marks of your coming glory.  The necessary pain you must go THROUGH to get TO what God wants to make of you.

Don’t quit. 

There’ll be another nail.  But don’t quit.

You may have to hang there for a while.  Don’t give up on God’s plan.

Push through the pain, soldier.  

Pray.  Minister to those who need you.   Prepare others to lead and serve. Forgive them because they know not what they do.  And commit your spirit to the hands of God.

He will raise you up.

And when He does, your nail prints will be a witness to many, and a treasure that Heaven counts as worthy.

That’s how you survive.  That’s how you win.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

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