If you could, what would you build: an empire, a corporation, maybe a house or just a relationship? In 1962 Peter, Paul, and Mary, sang a song called “If I had a Hammer” (The Hammer Song). The Hammer Song was a protest song written by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays in 1949 in support of the Progressive Movement. The song was first performed publicly by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays on June 3, 1949, at St. Nicholas Arena in New York City at a testimonial dinner for the leaders of the Communist Party of the United States, who were then on trial in federal court, charged with violating the Smith Act by advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government. It was also a freedom song of the Civil Rights Movement and it had a great impact on the youth of its day. It even helped spark the Hippie Movement and other activists who protested the Vietnam War, which went on for many years. The song goes like this, “If I had a hammer, I’d hammer in the morning,
I’d hammer in the evening, all over this land. I’d hammer out danger, I’d hammer out a warning, I’d hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land.” It ends with this, “Well I got a hammer, and I got a bell, and I got a song to sing, all over this land. It’s the hammer of Justice, it’s the bell of Freedom,
It’s the song about Love between my brothers and my sisters,
all over this land.”
So I ask today, if you had a hammer what would you build? Protesting only leads to anger and hatred. It tears down, not builds up. Only love can build up. Unfortunately today we only tear down. We head to the street and we cause destruction and anger and hatred and in some cases even violence. It’s only a house of cards that we eventually fall. It’s like the child’s story of the three little pigs, who built their house of straw, sticks, and bricks. When the wolf came the only house that stood was made of bricks. The writer of the story got their inspiration from the Bible in Matthew 7:24-27 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” You see if you build on anger and hatred and even on lies, it will one day all fall. During the pandemic all we heard about was misinformation, but after the pandemic we found out that that misinformation was really the truth. There are people in this world who are building, yes, they are building a world government, a world that the Bible tells us would one day come and after these last hundred years they are achieving what they have set out to do. They have sung their songs and slowly have taken the hearts of the youth in every generation till today when now they have the majority on their side. They have used every means possible, but you still are an individual who should think and you must think. Is anger and hatred and even violence the way to build anything? Only love builds up. You and I are not the Creator of this world, but we are the builders, and what we build today will matter for the children of tomorrow. If we build with straw and sticks or we could say with sticks and stones or signs and fists, then we are not building on the Rock as our foundation, the Rock is God our Creator, His son who truly died to make us free. It was His love that we must build on. If you were building a world, how would you fool those who would be your servants, maybe by using the media, even social media, and the teachers and the politicians to give you misinformation. God’s Word tells us what would come in these days and it was true for we are seeing exactly what God said would happen. If I had a hammer, I would use it to build homes for the poor, and if I had a song, I would sing about love for all people. and if I had a bell I would ring it like the Liberty Bell for freedom. We have all of this and more here in America, unless we choose to close our eyes and believe the lies that tell us differently. Grab a hammer instead of a protest sign, and begin to build something that is more than chants and talk. Let’s see where your words take you, for talk is cheap but deeds have value.
Matthew 5: 43-47 says this, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may prove yourselves to be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors, do they not do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Even the Pagans, do they not do the same?
Let’s get to work today building love for one another, and let’s see where it will take us.