Roots & Weeds

Hebrews 12:14-15 (NKJV) Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled...

I was visiting a friend recently and admiring the garden and landscape work she and her husband have done in front of their home. She pointed out to me a tree that has yet to be removed, and what a bother the roots from it have been as they've tried to put in new plants. It reminded me of a bush I dug out of my yard back in the early summer. It was constantly sending out shoots that I was pulling up to keep it from spreading through the whole yard. It wasn't a particularly pretty bush, or anything special, so I finally cut it down and dug it up and threw it away.

But the funny thing is, everytime I go out and wander in the yard, I still find shoots from that bush that need to be pulled out. There are roots under the ground that keep trying to start a new bush.

As I was telling my friend about this, it reminded me of the verse about not letting any root of bitterness take hold in our lives. It is so easy to let those little thoughts of hurt and resentment to take root, and before long, you've got little shoots of bitterness springing up all over the place. And if we don't keep up with the weed pulling, before long there's a full grown plant that has taken over - springing up to cause trouble.

Pursuing peace with all people is not an easy task. People will disappoint us. Let's face it, we all fall short of the grace of God, and need a daily, fresh supply to keep our hearts soft, and make those roots easy to pull out. I'm going to use my gardening time as an opportunity for the Lord to keep my heart free of the weeds and roots of bitterness. How about you? Need to do some gardening?

Ruth Schmidt is on full-time staff at America's Keswick, and grateful to be a daughter of the King.

DIGGING DEEPER
Psalm 103
13 As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.

Join us for VICTORY WEEK #2. Drs. David Epstein and Roger Willmore will be sharing the WORD at America's KESWICK. If you can't drive in for a meeting, you can watch the morning and evening services right from our website: www.americaskeswick.org beginning at 9:30 am and 7:00 pm.