How to break free from the bondage of sin
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. - Hebrews 12:1
In one of his most famous sermons, Pastor J. Alistair Brown told a story of how he passed a massive oak tree as he was walking through a park one day. A vine had grown up along its trunk and had gotten taller and taller. The entire lower half of the tree was covered by the vine’s creepers. The mass of tiny feelers was so thick that the tree looked as though it had innumerable birds’ nests in it.
The tree was in danger. This huge, solid oak was being taken over; the life was being squeezed from it. But the gardeners in that park had seen the danger. They had taken a saw and severed the trunk of the vine—one neat cut across the middle. The tangled mass of the vine’s branches still clung to the oak, but the vine was now dead. This eventually became plain as weeks passed and the creepers began to die and fall away from the tree.
Brown went on to explain that it’s so easy for sin, which begins so small and seemingly insignificant, to grow until it has a strangling grip on our lives. And yet, Christ’s death has cut the power of sin. Yes, the “creepers” of sin still cling and have some effect. But sin’s power is severed by Christ, and gradually, sin’s grip dries up and falls away.
Maybe today you find yourself entangled by sin’s creeping vines. But the good news is that in Christ, you’re dead to sin and alive to God! So take heart that even when sin seems to have you, you have the power of Christ in you to throw off its bondage and live in freedom!
Prayer Challenge
Pray and ask God to help you throw off sin’s entangling vines and live in the freedom Christ has purchased for you!
Questions for Thought
What are some areas in your life where the vines of sin have entangled you?
How can you break free from those old ways and embrace the freedom Christ has given you?
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