Poison Ivy-- Ugly as Sin

Years ago I trained Boston ivy to grow up a wall of one of our barns. As the Boston ivy climbed and covered the wall, poison ivy had also taken root and grown among the vines. Instead of killing the poison ivy out when I first noticed it, I put it off thinking that it would be too difficult. Now the poison ivy has nearly taken over an entire section of the barn wall smothering out the Boston ivy I desired. It will take extensive pruning to remove that poison ivy and unfortunately the good Boston ivy will need to come down as well.

Sin can be like that poison ivy. It’s often so small at first and likely to be unnoticed until it takes over a sizeable portion of our lives. To ignore it or to put off destroying it can have devastating consequences. Paul writes to us in 1 Corinthians 5:6, “Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?” It takes only a small amount of yeast to affect the whole batch. It takes just a small sin to affect our whole body, our physical body and our church body. Get rid of the sin, even though (and especially when) it’s small. Too difficult? Ask the Lord for help.