no footholds allowed

Ephesians 4:26-27

26"In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27and do not give the devil a foothold.


Often we tend to think of sin just like the first two demons in the story form yesterday. Sin is big, sin is adultery, stealing millions, lying to hurt others. Surely these are sins that are easy to identify, but they are not the ones that we fall for easily. It is the small ones that we do not think about that take their toll. Just how small am I talking about? Well I think this shows it well.

Several years ago, a preacher from out-of-state accepted a call to a church in Houston, Texas . Some weeks after he arrived, he had an occasion to ride the bus from his home to the downtown area. When he sat down, he discovered that the driver had accidentally given him a quarter too much change As he considered what to do, he thought to himself, 'You'd better give the quarter back. It would be wrong to keep it.' Then he thought, 'Oh, forget it, it's only a quarter. Who would worry about this little amount? Anyway, the bus company gets too much fare; they will never miss it. Accept it as a 'gift from God' and keep quiet.'
When his stop came, he paused momentarily at the door, and then he handed the quarter to the driver and said, 'Here, you gave me too much change ' The driver, with a smile, replied, 'Aren't you the new preacher in town?'

'Yes' he replied. '

Well, I have been thinking a lot lately about going somewhere to worship. I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change. I'll see you at church on Sunday.'

When the preacher stepped off of the bus, he literally grabbed the nearest light pole, held on, and said, 'Oh God, I almost sold your Son for a quarter.'

It’s just a quarter, it’s just a little white lie, it’s only this one time…….these are the snares that the devil loves to use. He might get one person every now and then with theft on a large scale right off the bat, but he snares thousands daily with just a quarter. Today it is a quarter, next month a dollar, the month after five dollars…….then you look up and can’t remember just how you got so far off the path!

The devil does not need a huge door to walk through, all he needs is a foothold. Seldom does he use dynamite, it is the small jeweler’s pick that chips away daily until it is no longer a foothold. It is a hole big enough to get in to your heart.

So while we can all say we would not trade our salvation for all the gold in the world, we need to see if we have not already started selling it one quarter at a time!

Peace,
Rev. Thetford