Minister’s Corner: The scars will remain

By: DR. BRIAN DORE’
Member of the Ville Platte Ministerial Alliance

I remember hearing a story a long time ago, but I can’t remember who the author was. The story goes like this. “Once there was a little boy who had a bad habit of lying. He just couldn’t seem to stop telling lies. Fed up, his father said to him, ‘I have to teach you that you are not to lie. Every time you tell a lie, I’m going to tell you to take a nail to the post in the backyard and drive that nail into that old post.’ It wasn’t long until the post was just about full of nails. The little boy’s heart was touched and he said, ‘Oh Daddy, I see what you are talking about. I am so sorry that I have been lying. What can I do? The father said, ‘Son, ask God to forgive you of your lies and then start telling the truth. Every time you tell the truth, I will pull out a nail from the post.’ The little boy began to tell the truth and it wasn’t long until all of the nails had been pulled out of the post. The father came out and the little boy was sitting at the post crying. So the father said ‘Son, don’t cry. It is so wonderful. All the nails are out of the post.’ The little boy said, ‘I know Daddy, but the scars, the nail prints, are still there.’”
God will forgive your sins, but the scars will always be there. Sin is horrible, it destroys everything and everyone it touches. But sin can be forgiven. All we need to know is that when we commit sin, we are starting a process that may continue for years and it affects so many people before it ends. Is that really a chance you want to take?