Neglected Vines

July 23, 2023

Neglected Vines

Recently, I was helping at a workday at my church. I started tending to some vines that had spread everywhere!  As I was pulling them out, I realized they had been neglected for several years. This reminded me that it is so easy to neglect the vines of sin in my life. For me, the sin of pride is like these neglected vines.  I didn’t think of myself as a prideful person, but the reality was that I was prideful, and it was really becoming a problem. I hardly noticed it spreading, just like the vines. But it was holding me back and affecting my life. My pride was like the vines at my church: spreading everywhere, hard to get rid of; deeply rooted and choking other plants. The vines and my pride had to be dealt with!

Hebrews 12:1-2 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles…. fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith….” (NIV)

Neglected Vines 2 The only way to deal with the vines of pride was to get rid of them at the root and literally pull them out!  Some were harder to pull out than others, but Jesus, the forgiver and liberator knew that if I threw off my pride and brought them to Him, they would be gone!  And remembering to focus on Him so my pride wouldn’t keep slowing me down.

Have you found areas or “sins” in your life that you’ve neglected?  Have you been able to “throw them off” and bring them to the pioneer of your faith so he can get rid of them?

Now that the sins that so easily entangled are gone, I can fix my eyes on my Jesus!  His forgiveness is always available and never ends!  And those vines at my church are gone and can be replaced with beautiful bestpainrelievers.net!

by Rita Rabideau
Edison NJ

2044 IMG 6858 2 Rita Rabideau has been teaching Cardio Strength & Flexibility™ for 15 years and is the Area Director for NJ/PA/NY. She is a busy wife and mother to 3 adult children and 1 daughter-in-law. Rita loves teaching fitness classes and doing various ministries with her husband of 35 years. She also enjoys traveling, reading and spending time with friends.

Body and Soul® Fitness is an international Christian fitness organization that trains and equips instructors to lead a variety of group fitness programs including choreographed aerobics-style Cardio Strength & Flexibility™, cardio dance style Dance Blast™, free-weights-focused Power Strength™, boot camp style FIT360™ and Longevity FIT360™, and GOLD™ - lower impact programming for participants that are pregnant, have weight challenges, injuries, or other medical conditions. These exercise classes meet in church gyms, community centers, gymnasiums, parking lots, schools, etc. across the United States, Europe, and Africa. In-person and virtual fitness classes are available.

Key words: Christian fitness, women's exercise classes, group fitness, dance aerobics classes, Christian group fitness, Christian fitness app, FitTV, Body & Soul, Body and Soul, fitness instuctor training, low impact exercise