The kingdom of God is like kudzu on an old barn…
Years ago when we first saw the Japanese vine draped on the
trees lining the highways of north Georgia, we thought it was quaint.
First introduced to control
erosion, the fast growing vine soon became a curse to land owners.
Kudzu is like sin – fast growing and tenacious once it has a
grip.
As you turn down the road that
leads to our country home, the kudzu vines are so aggressive
that they have rise up and grabbed a telephone wire and now threaten to pull it
down!
Its vines will swallow alive anything in its way. A barn in our neighborhood is an example.
I’ve known a few people like that. Jesus-followers caught up in pornography, drugs, or alcohol, and swallowed alive.
The habit slowly grew until it became an addiction, and the addiction eventually began to block out any light, choking out life – tragically, even the light shining on their family.
They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct…
Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight…
With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed…
They have left the straight way and wandered off…”
-2 Peter 2:12-15
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I think you meant that the kingdom of the world, flesh and the devil is like the kudzu vine, didn’t you?
Well, it’s like the wheat and the tares – light and dark. The Kingdom is the barn or the phone line; the enemy comes and tries to blot out light or pull down the line.
Other than that little detail above (which I hadn’t caught, but she’s right), the point is well made. I think that’s a great parable. I’ve heard of the vine, even up here in the Northwest. It’s a nasty thing. Thank you for sharing such a great insight.
And yet Jesus said, “I am the true vine…”
You are forgetting the part where the kingdom of god *is* like a vine. Kudzu was imported to the south at a time when the land was becoming entirely barren. It’s ability to enrich any soil where it grows, and its tenacious will to grow in the most challenging of situations, allowed it to literally save the south. Decades ago it was celebrated throughout the country during a time of great poverty. Once the soil was restored, though, the desire for luxury crops like cotton and tobacco made people attempt to root out the kudzu. Only when it was no longer being treated with care did it start causing problems for people.
Perhaps the Kingdom of God is like a Kudzu vine it can save a people and enrich their lives, and yet it is constantly denied and reviled. The Kingdom of God is like a Kudzu vine, because it is alive and growing, and it can swallow all the delapidated structures of our lives and make them verdant and alive.
Personally, I like that better than saying that the kingdom of God is a run down house covered with invasive plants.
my nigga