Yesterday, in the garden, I encountered a prickly struggle as I confronted a briar that had sprung up in my absence. Lush and vigorous, on first appearance it had almost persuaded me that it was a healthy rose bush that would produce prolific beautiful roses, if I would train it to grow along the fence-top. On closer inspection, however, I saw that it had entangled, and was busy suffocating, the regular rose bushes as it assailed them, and that its forceful, fleshy stem was curling and snaking everywhere, even around the bigger shrubs.

 

As I started to cut and clear, I realised it was ready for battle; with sharp barbed thorns, and spines lining the stems and studding the leaves, it relentlessly pierced the gloves and hooked any part of my clothing in contact, leaving painful punctures and scratches. But I prevailed.

 

Isn’t our struggle against sin like this? We constantly come into contact with things that appear innocuous, yet are deceptive, which we don’t reject; yet if left to grow in our lives, they entangle us, harm us, and eventually smother our will, leaving us as a shadow of our former self. Like the regular rosebush, we don’t die but produce small, flawed blossoms and deformed leaves that yellow quickly – because the thief vine has stolen the light and water.

 

The same thing happens when we rebel against what we know is right; we allow the Thief to infiltrate our mind, and then reject the wisdom of God’s Word, put ourselves before others, and go out on our own path to do as we please.

 

Either way, whether we’ve been deceived and have become entangled, or have actively chosen to do wrong, we will realise that it’s bigger than we are and there is no easy escape, except by God’s grace. He will be with us as we fight against the Enemy, but we have to take up arms – as surely as I needed to take up the pruning shears – to win.

 

Paul had enough experience of this struggle to teach the Ephesians that the fight “is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

 

Each person has the choice: to live in the light of truth or in the darkness of deception, but for those who know the freedom of Truth in Christ, “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” (Psalm 145:18)

 

Let us heed Paul’s call to the Ephesians to live in the Truth: “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place. (Ephesians 6:14)

 

Prayer: Lord Jesus, open my eyes to the Enemy’s plots and snares in my life and help me always to choose Your Truth. Amen