It’s March … and time once again to get outside and do some yard work!
Last Wednesday (March 1) the sun came out briefly while I was outside waging war on the blackberry vines.
In awe of the glorious sunshine, a song suddenly popped into my head … so of course I had to send it (via text) to my kids (with lots of music-note emojis):
“So let the sun shine in!
Let the yard work now begin!
Hard work makes a way …
where blackberries ruled the day!
So let the sun shine in …
into the forest enter in.
Open up the yard,
and let the sun shine in!”
Blackberry vines are a lot like sin! Unchecked, they just go everywhere!!
The blackberries have been secretly spreading out runners underneath the decaying layer of leafy mulch. Sneaky!! Deceptive!! Just a tiny little peek of blackberry shoot here, and there.
All the while, in secret, the blackberry runners have formed a sort of “carpet” … intertwining and interweaving … all across the forest floor.
I grabbed a handful of the runners from the “carpet” and pulled!! With a big yank, runners popped up from places I didn’t even know the runners had spread to!
I tugged and pulled!! (using lower back muscles I probably shouldn’t have been using) The blackberries defiantly resisted! I ruthlessly yanked … jerking little tufts of roots up from the ground … here and there and everywhere!!
Blackberries are a lot like sin!!
As I yanked and pulled at the stubborn tangled “carpet” of runners, tiny little thorn-prickles punctured my garden gloves and embedded themselves in my palms. The ever-stretching runners slashed across my wrist as I reeled them in, leaving painful red scratches. The runners wrapped around my ankles … trying to trip me up! They grabbed at my legs, trying to make me fall!
Sin spreads!! Unconfessed sin in our life spreads. Just like blackberry runners.
It spreads … sneaky-like … deceptive … “under-cover” where it’s not noticeable.
This is what happens when we ignore sin in our life (even though the Holy Spirit has been convicting us about it!). We think it’s no big deal. We don’t think anyone else can see the sin. We don’t think it’s a problem.
Meanwhile, it secretly forms a “carpet” of runners underneath the surface, which slowly takes over everything!
Sin infects and affects everything!
It takes root in our soul … then spreads to other areas of our soul to take root there … then spreads to other areas of our life, taking root there. In time, our entire life becomes taken over!! Our entire life is infected and affected by our unconfessed, unrepented sin.
It’s awful!! It’s absolutely awful!!
The Holy Spirit is saying: Pull the vines up!!! Pull them up!!
Grab hold of those pruners and chop that sin off at the base!!
Get your shovel … get in there and dig those roots up!!
Pull that sin up!! Pull it up!
Listen to the Holy Spirit!
It’s hard work to pull up sin out of our life!! It’s hard work!!
Sin defiantly resists! … just like the blackberry runners!
Sin slashes in defiance … leaving painful red scratches across our soul!
Sin punctures our fake façade and embeds our soul with painful thorny prickles of regret and heartache!
Sin wraps around our ankles … trying to trip us up!
Sin grabs at our legs … trying to make us fall!
As I finished up out in the yard, I took a photo of the tangled thorny pile of blackberry vines to send to my kids … along with the text: “I conquered the foe!” (to which my son replied with a “trophy” emoji … ha!)
This is what it looks like to live the Christian life … pulling up sin! … repenting and confessing of sin, as the Holy Spirit reveals it. Then letting God take that big awful thorny pile away!
Here you can see a photo of the area where I was working, after I had pulled the blackberry vines up. Much better!!
This is what the Holy Spirit wants to do in our lives. God wants to have a relationship with us in which He helps us pull all of the sin up … so that our lives can be beautiful for Him!
