Entanglement

A few weeks ago a friend of mine called me on the phone and asked if I knew anyone that could trim some brush.  I volunteered myself and said I could do it thinking that it would just be a few bushes or something. 5 Trips to the property later I completed the job of trimming back vines and brush along a fenceline that seemed to be endless.

I don't know if it is just the way my mind works but I tend to see situations in life that remind me of Biblical principles. One of the things I often encountered while trimming back the vines and brush were trees and limbs that had grown through the fence and then actually grown through and around the fence so that the fence was part of the tree.  You could not separate the two.

My mind immediately went to Hebrews 12:1 which says "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," 

What happened with the trees and branches I saw happens all too often in the life of the believer. When the tree was small and could fit in between the opening in the fence it really didn't damage the overall integrity of the fence. But over the years what should have been cut out and dealt with was allowed to grow and eventually get entangled into the fence ultimately became part of the fence. It took over the fence. It was completely entangled! Had it been dealt with when it first penetrated the fence it could have been saved.

Do you see where I am going with this? As Christians, we allow little sins into our lives and we do not let the Holy Spirit prune them out. We do not deal with the sin and chop it off until it overtakes us and our lives are completely a mess and rendered ineffective.  Sin entangles us! Something that should have been taken care of and dealt with long ago has rendered us useless. It has weighed us down. It has compromised our integrity. But it didn't have to be that way! If sin had been confessed and dealt with, it would not be holding us down and holding us back.

If you let your sin entangle you long ago and you have been rendered useless you do not have to remain entangled. You can still confess it but breaking loose from it will be much harder now than it was when it first entered your life.  Get into the Word of God and allow the great physician to do spiritual surgery on you.  It will be painful! It will be hard! It will have consequences that may last a lifetime but you will finally be free from something that has entangled you and held you back from your full potential!  Deal with it! You'll be glad you did!