The story is told of a man who, traveling through the desert, set up camp and crawled into his tent, bracing himself for a cold night. Once safely inside, he quickly fell asleep. But, in the middle of the night, he was rudely awakened. Apparently, his camel was getting cold and stuck his nose into the tent to warm up. The weary traveler drifted off to sleep again only to be awakened a second time when he noticed that his camel had moved his entire head and front shoulder into the tent. Again, the man did nothing and went back to sleep. The next time he woke up, he was outside and the camel had taken over the tent.
This is a good example of how sin gradually creeps into our lives. Unalarmed at first, we shrug our shoulders and move on. But, soon we find that the sin we did not take seriously has overtaken our lives. I use to hear my mother say, “Give him an inch and he’ll take a mile!” It didn’t take long to understand that this was not a compliment. Satan is like that – give him an inch and he will take a mile.
In the first-century context of listening to the preaching of men, Paul says, “But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil” (1 Th. 5:21-22). False teaching is like a camel sticking his nose in your tent. If you do nothing about it, you may soon find yourself living in a world of hurt. Satan wants to gain control of our lives. He seldom does so all at once—but in bits and pieces—gradually enslaving us to sin.
James tells us to “Resist the devil and he will flee from [us].” But, before he says this, he says, “Submit therefore to God” (Jas. 4:7). In order to overcome the devil and keep his nose out of our tent, we must submit our lives to the Lord. This is how we overcome the devil. This is how we win the battle. John says, “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 Jn. 4:14).
–Glen Elliott–