With the right weed-killer, poison ivy is easy to kill when it is a young sprig. Later, it will have grown into a thick vine, covered with leaves, climbing high up the trunk of a tree. Now, one must kill it differently. If you spray the leaves within reach, it doesn’t kill the entire plant. The leaves that were sprayed fall off, but above arm’s reach the poison ivy will still thrive. To kill this thicker, old vine, you must cut the vine at the base of the plant then repeatedly kill any leaves that sprout. This is exactly how God wants us to deal with sin in our lives. If we discover a sin early, we confess it and God forgives it and that sin is gone. Other sins have grown unattended and become attached and interwoven into our lives. Those sins must be cut off drastically at the root. And any attempt that sin makes to reappear must be dealt with again and again. When we become God’s child, He wants to rid our hearts of anything that harms us and keeps us separated from Him. He wants us freed of anything that keeps us from the best life He has planned for us.
– Dr. Tim Thompson