A Vine Squeezes Life Out of an Oak Tree | Victory

Walking through a park, I passed a massive oak tree. A vine had grown up along its trunk. The vine started small; nothing to bother about. But over the years the vine had gotten taller and taller. By the time I passed, the entire lower half of the tree was covered by the vine’s creepers. The mass was so thick that the tree looked as though it had many birds nests in it and the tree was in danger. This huge, solid oak tree was being chocked to death; the life was being squeezed from it. But the gardeners in that park had seen the danger. They had taken a saw and cut the trunk of the vine; across the middle. The vine’s branches still clung to the oak, but the vine was now dead. That would become evident as weeks passed and the creepers began to die and fall. It is 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 to us, but sin’s power is severed by Christ, and gradually, sin’s grip dries up. (Source Unknown)