The dry, withered vine hung like tentacles from the branches of the aging pine.
Once the vine had tried to seize control of the tree. It had threatened to overtake the pine and strip it of life until only the vine remained. Left unchecked, the vine would have grown so much that it would have obscured the tree almost entirely, hiding the beauty of what was supposed to be there behind a façade of something that didn’t belong.
But the vine was dead now.
The vine no longer threatened the life of the tree. The vine was only an echo of a time long past, and the tree was free to grow as it was intended to. The only reason the vine was still hanging on was because no one had yet taken the time to remove it so the beauty of the tree could shine through.
Your life is like that.
If you’re in Christ, the Bible says you are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). It says that once sin was like that vine, toxic and spreading, sucking away your life and leading you to destruction (Romans 6:23), but not anymore!
If you’re in Christ, the Bible says old things have passed away and all things have become new, and that means no matter what patterns of sin used to define you, they don’t have to anymore. Whatever patterns of dysfunction used to command you, they don’t have to anymore. Whatever habits or addictions or compulsions used to control you, they don’t have to anymore!
Jesus makes all things new, and that means you can be free of those things that used to hold you back as you trust and obey the One who is calling you forward.
Cast aside those old remnants of sin and shame! Throw off those leftover patterns of thought and behavior that don’t line up with who God made you to be!
In Christ, you have a new life now, and the vine does not define you anymore.
-Pastor Phillip
