What’s a Nail Worth?

This is a photo of a nail that was once in a sailing ship from the 17th century.  They were pretty valuable.  Back in the day when these ships would dock at south sea islands, sailors would occasionally pull them out of the boat to use to purchase items and favors  from the islanders who would use them for fish hooks and other things, a very valuable commodity in a society that had no iron.  The problem was that the sailors had to decide “How many nails can I pull out before the ship becomes unsafe!”, one, two, one hundred;  and even then it might be safe in the harbor, but would it be able to sail back home, especially if a storm came up.  I think people sometimes today do this with sin,  thinking “Can I  do this one time, two, or one hundred before bad things begin to happen in my life, in my friendship with God, my family, Etc”.  In other words, how many times can I do “This” before I began to break apart;  how many drinks, how many flirting moments, how many abusive words,  how many angry acts, how many white lies, unethical financial choices, unhealthy time on the Internet,  underhanded acts that may benefit me personally and hurt another, taking amazing grace for granted. (you can name these as well as I can for we each know what we might be tempted to exchange a nail for, the very nail that is holding the ship together).  There are too many of us facing a storm we are unprepared for because we have exchanged too many nails that are of great value for things that are not of value at all.  What does the devil want to get us to believe?   That something is nothing, and something is nothing.  Hammer the nails back where they belong.