One of my simple joys is a good greenbelt run.
Recently, I came across this nice scene and had to share it with you, along with some lessons we might apply to our lives today. A quick scan of this photo reveals several things:
- The color green dominates the landscape, though dappled in some areas, signaling that we are coming into spring.
- One tree rises above the rest of the trees.
- That taller tree has a vine snuggly growing up and along many of its branches.
It’s fascinating: as you get closer to that taller tree, you will also notice several things:
- It has small buds appearing, but they are stunted compared to the other fully leafed trees around it.
- The vine extending over its branches, though green, does not fit the usual leaf pattern of a tree of its kind.
- Thus, this tree has an awkward appearance, with green growth but from a non-native (alien) source.
Life Lessons:
- This tree is alive and well, though only slightly revealing its leafy green life.
- Lesson: Often, Satan attacks us when we are in areas where we are still growing and maturing. One of his goals is to get us just when we are entering a formative season. He wants to seize us before we reach maturity.
- Example: A young Christian, full of zeal and aspiration for the Lord, suddenly feels the weight of misdeeds long ago repented of. He fights the battles of his past, and when he thinks he is finding a breakthrough, there is the accuser once again wagging his finger and shaking his head.
- The vine is a non-native (alien) plant growing on top of the tree, in full color and vigor.
- Lesson: Without careful examination, one might mistake the vine’s growth for that of a tree. After all, it’s green, it appears to be on the tree, and more. However, the tree could not be more different than the vine. Satan’s attacks are varied and strive to substitute superficial growth for godly growth.
- Example: A Christian begins reading his Bible daily. He starts to see connections in the Bible and even begins to memorize Scripture. However, he also begins to feel superior to those who do not read their Bibles or recall Scripture as well as he does. If he is not careful, he will fall into Satan’s trap of pride through comparison, which will slowly gut his delight in God’s Word and replace it with a fleshly ambition for knowledge without understanding and wisdom.
- The vine has the potential to snuff out the tree’s life.
- Lesson: In time, the vine grows and extends itself across not only this tree, but all the trees around it. It is designed to keep growing onward, seeking light until it can’t. The vine ultimately kills its host in at least three ways:
- Shading out light, adding weight, and girdling the trunk (stopping the flow of life up and down the xylem and phloem).
- At that point, the tree dies and falls to the ground, and the vine grows along the ground until it reaches another vertical object, likely a tree, and uses its height to get more sun, eventually killing that tree too. Sin shades out the light of truth, weighs the Christian down, and cuts off life from both his public and private life.
- Example: A Christian consistently gives in to sin without struggle or accountability. They think they can handle it themselves. They begin small and progress onward until they are eaten alive by guilt, shame, and devastating consequences. This is the story of adultery, lying, stealing, gluttony, and more. A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
- Lesson: In time, the vine grows and extends itself across not only this tree, but all the trees around it. It is designed to keep growing onward, seeking light until it can’t. The vine ultimately kills its host in at least three ways:
“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…”
Hebrews 12:1
We need the gospel.
We need a Messiah who took the vine of our sin. We need a Substitute who voluntarily accepted sin’s shade, weight, and strangulation. We need a God who condescends, empties Himself of glory, and takes the penalty of our sin. We need a Savior who overcame the death-vine of sin, so that He might graft us into the life-vine of Promise.
We need Jesus Christ!
The next time you’re out in God’s creation, look around for some vines and consider how, by God’s grace, you might remove the entangled vines of sin and move toward the true Vine that sustains you.
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.” John 15:4
— April 8, 2026