Here’s a fantastic illustration from Chuck Swindoll about the scary reality of keeping portions of our lives away from the lordship and control of Christ.
“A certain man wanted to sell his house in Haiti for $2,000. Another man wanted to buy it, but because he was poor, he couldn’t afford the full price. After much bargaining, the owner agreed to sell the house for half the original price with just one stipulation: he would retain ownership of just one small nail protruding from just over the door.
After several years, the original owner wanted the house back, but the new owner was unwilling to sell. So the first owner went out, found the carcass of a dead dog, and hung it from the single nail he still owned. Soon the house became unlivable, and the family was forced to sell the house to the owner of the nail.The moral of the parable, ‘If we leave the devil with even one small peg in our life, he will return to hang his rotten garbage on it, making it unfit for Christ’s habitation.'”
The scary part about this is that I can rarely ever foresee any danger in allowing the little nails to remain above the door of my life. And because I can’t imagine how they could really harm me, I allow them to linger. But that’s the nature of evil, isn’t it? It over promises and under delivers. It promises to serve, or at least not get in the way. When in reality, it only enslaves and dominates. It is no wonder then that James, the half-brother of Jesus, understood that the only way to resist the devil is by submitting our total selves to God (Jm 4:7). We must allow God full access to each of the rooms within the interior castle of our souls.REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
1. What are the rooms of your soul to which you have refused God access?
2. Why is it so difficult to give over access to God?
3. Do you think that once you give God access to your life that you never need to do it again?
4. What else does this illustration make you think about? (click “comments” above)
One Comment on “Allowing evil just one small nail”
This illustration makes me think about several things.
1. Our Money. We own nothing, not even our money. I am in a great study with my small group right now, called Crown Financial through Crown Ministries. The first and paramount realization that we need to come to is that it is ALL God’s. We borrow all of it. The concept of stewardship is that we learn to manage, utilize and take good care of things that belong to someone else. God is the ultimate owner of our money, and so we must be in good stewardship of HIS money. Just as we should be good stewards of resources at work, at church, etc. But how many of us are REALLY willing to take every last dollar and say “God, it’s all yours?” Not just our tithe, but all of it? We want to hold on to one small part of it for ourselves. It’s that fear. Gotta keep a grip on that wallet! But when we submit our total selves to God, we can be without fear and know that God would never lead us astray, or ask us to leave him a nail, as it were.
2. Our Habits. Addictions. The devil loves using addictions as a nail over our doors, doesn’t he? For those who have quit an addiction and have that fleeting thought once in a while, it would only take that one time of slipping to let that addiction back into your life again.
3. Gossip. Gossip breeds rumors, and it all stems from insecurity, jealousy, envy. I could write an entire essay here, but that might be better served on a different blog.