"The Kudzu Effect"

 

“The Kudzu Effect”

 

While driving through the south Karen and I have seen patches (and sometimes fields) of beautiful purple flowers. We did some research and found it was called kudzu, an invasive vine native to China, India and Japan. It was introduced to our country in 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition as “an ornamental and a forage crop plant” and was promoted by the government for erosion control in the early 1900’s. But it wasn’t long before it covered and choked out trees and other vegetation and became known as “the vine that ate the South”. So what was initially thought of as good had the opposite effect. And it remains a serious problem in certain areas of the southern U.S. today.

God placed Adam and Eve in an idyllic setting in the Garden of Eden. There they could do what they wanted with one restriction: “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17). It must have been the most beautiful tree in Eden because Satan used its attractiveness and twisting of God’s words to entice them to disobey the divine directive. As a result, “…the entail of sin and death passed on to the whole human race….” (Romans 5:12, Phillips). Only Jesus’ sacrificial death could remedy this problem (“The sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over us, but all who receive God’s wonderful, gracious gift of righteousness will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”—Romans 5:17, NLT).

Just as kudzu draws us by its colorful array sin can grip us by its allurement (see the story of Achan in Joshua 7) and induce us to tragic consequences (“There is a way that seems right to {a person} but in the end it leads to death, Even in laughter the heart may ache, and joy may end in grief.”—Proverbs 14:12-13). How can we avoid this trap? By not evaluating our actions by how they feel but by what the Scripture says (“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”—Psalm 119:11, emphasis added). Do this and we’ll combat the kudzu effect in our lives.

 

Grace and Blessings!

Jim McMillan