One Small Nail

Eastford Baptist Church
September 21, 2006

ONE SMALL NAIL

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. (2 Corinthians 10:5)

The story is told about a certain wicked man who wanted to sell his house for $2,000. A man wanted to buy it but couldn’t afford the full price. The seller offered to sell it to the buyer for half price with only one stipulation – that the seller would retain ownership of a one nail protruding over the front door. The buyer, thinking this was a rather small concession on his part, agreed and his family moved in. A year later the original seller wanted to buy the house back for only $500, but of course, the new owner refused to sell at that price. So the wicked man went out and found the carcass of a dead dog and hung it from the nail he owned. Soon the stench of the dead dog made the house unlivable and the occupant sold the house back to the owner for $500. The moral of that story is that if we leave the devil just one small peg in our life, he will hang his rotting garbage on it.

Without knowing if this story actually happened or not, it still speaks to me about a reality, which is true in many people’s lives. Many people choose to leave one small nail - one small area of compromise in their life which ultimately leads to disaster. It only takes one small concession in our life to provide a foothold for the enemy. As long as our enemy has one nail on which he can hang his hat – he knows sooner or later, he’s moving back in.

That’s why it is so important to take every thought captive to Christ. Our thought life is what leads us astray. We don’t act properly because we don’t think properly. We don’t think properly because we don’t make our thoughts conform to Christ. Notice it says “make it obedient to Christ.” He’s calling us to compel our “thinker” to “re-think” our “thinking.” If what we are thinking does not agree with what Jesus says – we need to modify our thoughts until they conform to His truth. Notice also Paul directs us to “take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.” The hard part of this verse of course is the word “every.” We are not told to make our thoughts captive to Christ, but to make every thought captive to Christ. Make every single thought conform to Christ. In other words, we have to think about our thinking – an make each thought conform to the truth which God has revealed in His Word.

How do we do this?

It begins with the Lord. He calls us to look to Him. Jesus wants his children to be single-minded and focused on Him. He has to own the house – the whole house – and every single nail in the house. Make sure Christ has complete access to every area of the house.

Second look to the Word of God. The problem the buyer has in the story above is he can’t escape the horrible odor, which was permeating his house. Every moment in his dwelling was affected by the stench. He could try to ignore it all he wanted. But he would never be able to get away from it. Victory in our thought life comes from focusing on truth rather than trying to avoid thinking about untruths. Take every thought you have and make it conform to what the Lord says in the Bible. You don’t get rid of negative thoughts by trying not to think them. You overcome them by choosing the truth and keep choosing the truth until the negative thoughts are drowned out or completely replaced by the truth.

*Call wayward thoughts what they really are – pretense. It doesn’t make much of a difference where a thought originates, if it doesn’t agree with the Word of God it is nothing more than pretense. You might have picked it up on the television. It might have been passed on to you by a college professor, a book, a discussion with your neighbor, or the musings of your own mind. If it doesn’t agree with what the Lord declares as truth, it is merely pretense. Don’t pay attention to it. Colossians 2:8, “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.”

*Put your mind on a diet. If what you are thinking is not in agreement with God’s Word, do what the Apostle Paul admonished us to do. Put your mind on a diet: “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything is worthy of praise, dwell on these things” (Philippians 4:8).

Does the devil have a nail in your life? Has he built any strongholds in your life? He only needs a nail – one small concession - one small place to hang his hat. Get rid of the stronghold. Decide to make your thoughts conform to Christ. Begin living the life of an Overcomer today.

Rejoicing in His Victory,

PT