The Devil's Domain

A man desperately wanted to buy an extraordinary mansion, and the devil, taking advantage of his obsession, offered to help him:
"But there is one condition," the demon told him.
"What condition?" the man asked suspiciously.
— Do you see that nail… that simple nail stuck in the dining room wall?
- Yes!
— I will provide everything you need to buy this mansion and it will truly be yours, but… that nail will be mine!
- Just that?
"Yes: that nail will be mine, and you'll never be able to pull it out... that's all," the Devil confirmed.
The man accepted the proposal.

Soon after moving in, he decided to "inaugurate" his luxurious mansion by offering a gigantic banquet to the most important people in the region: everyone was invited and confirmed their attendance.
It was supposed to be an unforgettable event, but right in the middle of the party, as people were getting ready to start eating… the devil entered the room carrying a stinking carcass and hung it on that nail, frightening everyone and simply ruining their appetite.
The mansion owner tried to argue, but the devil spoke firmly:
Remember our deal! That nail is mine, and I'll use it however and whenever I see fit!

Despite being relatively well-known — especially with the increasingly easy access to the internet that we see today — the teaching of this parable should never be trivialized or belittled.

Be angry, and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.
Do not give the devil a foothold.

(Ephesians 4:26-27 – ACF)

In stating this, the apostle Paul is making an exhortation to holiness.
The passage in question speaks of hatred, which is the act of, as it presents itself, nurturing and harboring anger, accumulating and dwelling on feelings of indignation.
Obviously, as the passage itself clarifies, the act of being angry, in itself, is not a sin: God himself is angry at evil, so it is not a sin to be angry at sin itself.
It is a sin to hold onto anger, to be unwilling to overcome the episode, to deny forgiveness: that is what we call "hate".

But "giving the devil a foothold" isn't just about harboring resentment.
Any opening that is created, any "pet sin" that is maintained, in short, anything that is contrary to God's will and against which the person is not willing to fight, opens a possibility, an opportunity for the devil to infiltrate and contaminate their relationship with God.
However, we see more and more people inclined to follow this dangerous path of tolerating their own sin: there are many who live a lifestyle completely contrary to that approved by the Word of God and yet believe that it is enough for them to perform good deeds in other areas so that God will not be "so strict" and allow them to continue to indulge in the sins they enjoy so much…
Nothing could be further from the truth!

Unlike the many possible exceptions presented by human laws, divine Law is so holy and perfect that the apostle James recorded:

For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

(James 2:10 – ACF)

Like a glass with a hole in the bottom or a fence with a broken gap—which serve no purpose!—appearing before God with sins and expecting to offer justifications is like—from a human perspective—making a cake with dirty hands: no matter how aesthetically pleasing and tasty it may be, no one in their right mind will eat it.
It is evident that human beings are incapable of fulfilling God's Law with the perfection it demands, and that is precisely why it was necessary for Jesus Christ to come into the world: in order to fulfill the entire Law in the place of fallen humanity.
Without the work of Christ, who both fulfilled the Law and suffered its punishment as propitiation for humanity, any effort on the part of man to please God would be worthless: everyone would already be condemned before even dying!

However, the fact that Jesus accomplished, in the place of each human being, what was impossible for man to do through his own effort is not a license to "enjoy" sins: whoever is in Christ is a new creature and will seek to live for Him, avoiding the act of walking according to the flesh, that is, living not to satisfy their own desires, but those of their Savior.

For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus:
For if one died for all, then all died.
And he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
Therefore, from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!.

(2ⁿᵈ Corinthians 5:14-17 – ACF)

That is why Paul's advice is so important.
Among the many other exhortations in the New Testament for Christ to be the motivation for a life of holiness, we can highlight James exhorting his readers to remain unstained from the world (see James 1:19). James 1:27), the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews warning that without holiness no one will see the Lord (confirm in Hebrews 12:14) and Paul exhorting Timothy, his friend and fellow minister, to be sober, that is, correct in all things (see 2ⁿᵈ Timothy 4:5).

There is, obviously, no way to achieve perfection in this world.
It is evident that a Christian—however sincere, dedicated, and hardworking they may be—will always have their flaws, but there is a huge difference between BEING A CARRIER of sin and LIVING in sin: a Christian will seek to distance themselves as much as possible from the practice of evil… not out of fear of condemnation, but because they do not want the devil to have room to undermine their faith.
As the enemy lurks around us like a lion seeking its prey (check 1ˢᵗ Peter 5:8Therefore, Christians must seek God's presence more and more, avoiding sin and being continually transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, and only in this way will they not give place to the devil: even in their occasional stumbles, they will have the power of the Holy Spirit to rise again and continue in their sanctification, until the day when it will be perfect, in eternity.

In the Bonds of Calvary

Eduardo Pydd Teixeira

ORIGINAL TITLE: DO NOT GIVE PLACE TO THE DEVIL

Fewer and fewer people have been able to acknowledge their sins because we live in a time when many ecclesiastical organizations welcome them… as long as, even without any repentance for them, the “faithful” can compensate for them with good deeds and, preferably, a lot of money, but this is just another example. indication That the end times are rapidly unfolding, and before the Lord returns like a thief in the night, the prophesied reign of the Antichrist must be consolidated not only in Brazil, but throughout the world!
In the 2023 phase of "The Worst Gospel," I decided to use new formats in the hope of helping to increase the reach of content related to the Scriptures—stories, videos, shorter texts, guest authors…—and this publication, which I took the liberty of revising and illustrating, is part of that project.
Thank you for reading this far.
I still need all the help I can get: comments, shares, and reactions help spread this content, which was entirely produced with the intention of contributing to the edification of the Body of Christ in the world.