Father, it is much later than normal but things for worship Sunday are much further along and an outside chore that needed to be done is complete. Then this evening was some quality family time. I know that it makes no difference when I come to sit with You for You are already here.
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Karen and I have now put out two truck loads of mulch around our home. It has been a job and a half and we are not quite done. In the midst of weeding out our flower beds, I have come across a couple of areas in which I found a plant growing the I do my best to avoid – poison ivy! Karen doesn’t react to it at all but I sure do!
I remember when I was in high school there was a lot behind our home that in the summertime was covered with miles of poison ivy vines. Well, one winter I decided to clear the lot and began yanking up the vines by the handful, thinking no leaves, no reaction. And that is when I learned that the leaves are not the primary source of the poison. (I had such a bad reaction that I had to get a shot!) The oily sap in the vines and the leaves is what we react to. And speaking for myself, it is nothing to mess with and I avoid it at all costs!
A couple of points here. When you pull up poison ivy, you must get all of it pulled up or it will come back – hence the return of it to our flower beds. Also, one thing that I have learned is that the oil from the plant is very much like grease that you would find on engines it doesn’t just wash off with a little soap and water.
Poison ivy is a lot like sin. One area they are not alike is that every single one of us has a reaction to sin. The wages of poison ivy is an itchy rash. The wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23) Pick up a little spot of sin and not have God deal with it and you are going to have to deal with the results.
In the final hours of Jesus’ life, Pontius Pilot, the Roman governor of Judea, thought he could wash his hands of his final judgment condemning Jesus to death. His sin could not so easily be washed away. It was a stain that only the Man sent to be executed could eradicate.
All in all, and I’m not just speaking for myself but all of us, sin is nothing to mess with and every one of us should avoid it at all costs! We see a little three-leafed vine and we turn the other way. We see sin’s enticements and far too often we grab handfuls of it – we can’t seem to get enough! But we will pay… Only our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ can remove it.
Lord Jesus, help us to not be lured into what looks so appealing – it all leads to death. May we come to You anytime we come across anything that even resembles sin so that You can take care of it for You are the only one who can. Amen.
May 9th, 2019, Thurs, 9:14 pm
