Sometimes we have strong urges that we definitely should not give in to. One such urge came upon me yesterday while looking for a couple of shrubs to replace some that had died. There in front of my eyes were a row of pots with ivy in them. This creeper vine had already wound its way around a small trellis that had been put in the pot. My urge was to smash the pots and destroy the plants. Not a good idea. Mr Bunnings would have kicked me out of his store, never to allow me to return.

You may wonder what led to this destructive urge. Well I had just spent several days trying to get rid of ivy that has overrun the backyard of a flat I am involved in renovating. The stuff is everywhere. It has a stranglehold on two large trees, with the ivy as high as four metres from the ground. In other places it is insidiously trying to take over the lawn with runners growing through the grass and setting down roots that almost defy removal. The back fence was covered with the stuff and despite several efforts to poison it with ‘roundup’ it persists is trying to reclaim the fence.

Ivy should definitely not be sold in nurseries as a garden plant. It is a weed… and a weed of the worst kind. Well, okay, I guess one definition of a weed is “the right plant in the wrong place”. But pray tell: where can you grow ivy without it getting out of hand?

Interestingly, in the middle of my life-and-death battle with ivy (death to the ivy that is) I was reading the lift-out magazine in the Weekend Australian newspaper. It carried the story of a high profile criminal psychologist who had begun to dabble with cocaine. He succumbed to a drug habit that in the end was costing him up to $2000 per week. But it cost him more than just money… it also ruined his marriage and his career.

You may wonder what ivy and cocaine have in common. A great deal! The man in the story related how, in the early days of his use of cocaine he felt he had it under control and that he could quit at any time. That’s a common refrain one often hears from smokers and alcoholics, from drug users and porn addicts. They thought they had it under control. We’re strong… and we can stop any time we want to. The problem is that ivy gets away on us and very soon it takes over. So do our addictions.

I would go further and say that this is a more general picture of the way that sin works in our lives. Our sins are the weeds of our life. And the longer we allow the weeds to remain the harder they are to remove. I’ve chipped and dug out barrow loads of ivy but I only have to leave one small piece in the ground somewhere and it takes off again. And the worst is that it impacts everything. It embeds itself in the lawn, it has a stranglehold on the trees, it claims the backyard fence, it even grows up the brick walls of the house – nothing is safe from this invasive and destructive weed. If you’re planting a garden do yourself a favour and don’t buy Mr Bunnings’ ivy plants.

It’s for the same reasons that the Bible warns us against allowing sin in our life. It so easily takes over and it so often impacts so many areas of our life. What’s more – even when you get rid of the ivy and kill it off, it leaves its mark. You can still see the “scars” on the brickwork where the ivy once grew. Sin too leaves its scars even after we deal with it. It’s much better not to have gone there in the first place.

Just as I’ve declared war on the ivy on my property so the Bible calls us to declare war on sin.

Of course the good news of the gospel is that Jesus by His death has provided us with forgiveness for our sins. But more than that! By His resurrection He also empowers us to overcome sin and He has broken its stranglehold on us.

We as Christians can and should be defiant. The ivy will not win!

So how are you doing in your battle with the ivy of sin?

John Westendorp