EVERYTHING WE NEED: A Hole in the Screen
It was just a hole in the screen — a small one at that. Recently, I found my two cats playing with what I thought was a lizard. Looking closer, however, I realized it was a snake. Admittedly, it was small — only a few inches long — but it was still a snake and no friend of mine.
It was harmless, I’m sure, but he was unwelcome, and I would never have deliberately let him in. So, how did he get in? He came in through a small hole in one of our screens. Carelessly, we were aware of the hole but didn’t think it was worth fixing at the time — our mistake. We had just given the snake a foothold, and he took full advantage of it.
A foothold is “a secure position from which further advances can be made.” Biblically speaking, it means giving the devil an opening to come into our lives and set up residence. The old saying, “Give him an inch, and he will take a mile,” is certainly true for him. He is an enemy of God and of God’s people.
“In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold” (Eph. 4:26-27 NIV). Anger is an emotion we have all felt at times, although it is not necessarily sinful, it can become a major sin if we don’t squelch it immediately. “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice” (Eph. 4:31). These things can open the door for Satan to come in and “help” us destroy our testimony, our relationships with others and take away our joy.
It isn’t just anger out of control, however. We allow the devil to come in whenever we succumb to temptation. His goal is to take over our lives and turn them into his stronghold, making it all the harder to get rid of him and get our lives back into a right relationship with God.
How did that snake find that small hole in our screen? I’ve never even seen a snake in our yard. “…Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (I Peter 5:8). My uninvited guest was on the lookout. He slithered around my house, crawled up a brick front and just slid right on through.
To deal with the devil, we must:
• Act immediately — plug up that hole!
• “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). If we had just repaired that hole in the screen, that snake would never have stopped by.
• “Be alert and of sober mind…. Resist him, standing firm in the faith” (I Peter 5:8- 9).
• “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (II Cor. 10:3-5).
• Stay in God’s Word. Deny ungodliness. Run from temptations. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes… so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand” (Eph. 6:10-11,13). With the Lord’s help, we are not defenseless against Satan.
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