I was in band in middle school. I played the trumpet (though I can’t say I played it very well). If you have ever been in middle school band you know that during some part of the year you are going to have to sell something. Band programs are not football programs, and they have to get their money from somewhere. So each year we became amateur salespeople and were told we had to go door-to-door to peddle all kinds of things in an attempt to get funds for our extracurricular activity. In seventh grade we had to sell magazine subscriptions. Remember those? One day a member of a magazine-selling company came to our class and spent the whole time telling us how to be a salesperson. I can’t imagine that anyone liked that day. I certainly didn’t. I didn’t learn to play the trumpet so that I could sell magazines. But we had to do it nevertheless.
The man that came did give us some interesting information, however. He said that we should begin our sales pitch by giving each person a copy of our magazine pamphlet. We learned that if you hold out your hand and offer the pamphlet to someone, even if you don’t say a word, they will most likely take it from you. It’s just human nature. I encourage you to try this out on your own. Walk up to someone with a piece of paper and offer it to them. They will take it. Of course, now that I know this I have had some fun later in life when random people show up on my doorstep and offer me a pamphlet to read. The look on their faces when I don’t actually take the pamphlet is priceless.
This sales strategy is one variation of a common technique called the Foot In The Door strategy. You see it all the time in mall food courts, where people will offer you free samples of their food as you walk by. Why do they do this? It opens the proverbial door to a sales relationship. If they can get you to agree to a small action, you might be more likely to agree to something bigger. Car salespersons do this when they tell you “just sit in the car.”
Some big supermarket-like stores will do this by introducing what is called a “loss leader” into their inventory. This is when a company sells an item at a price so low that it does not make them any money. They do this in order to get you into the store so that you will buy more things (that do make money). If they can just get that “foot in the door,” they can get you to agree to something else.
Why does this work? I think because it establishes a relationship with someone. The salesperson is suddenly no longer a stranger. There has been an interaction of sorts. And now another request is suddenly not an unheard of thing to do.
Can we be a party to this foot in the door thinking in our spiritual lives? The church at Ephesus tells us we can.
Revelation 2:2-5
‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you lampstanded those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false. 3 I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember then from what you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
Ephesus started off strong, but then they lost “that loving feeling.” Paul’s letter mentions this too:
Ephesians 4:25-27
25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold.
The church allowed evil to get a foothold, and Paul called them out for it.
What would happen to have a bad foothold spiritually for you? Maybe you are holding onto something that hurt you. Maybe you have not forgiven someone. And maybe this is one of the best reasons that we are commanded to forgive others. Not forgiving someone creates a spiritual foot in the door. Bad things fester in you with unforgiveness. And those bad things can spread to other aspects of your life.
Forgive others, and examine yourself for footholds you don’t like. It’s the best way to keep yourself clean.
God Bless,