…looking diligently [becoming aware, plugging in, learning] lest anyone fall short of the grace of [or live below God's will, His grace, His blessing]; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.Bitterness means "a bitter root…producing a bitter fruit."
Springing comes from the Greek work phuo meaning "to puff or blow" or "to swell up."
Defile means "…to taint" or "contaminate." A bitter root from negative circumstances in life swells up and contaminates our hearts.
Watch Those Roots
How does a marriage fail after a couple has been together for a number of years? A root springs up. How do people end up in debt and poverty after knowing the promise of God's prosperity? A root springs up.
How do we accept a depressed, discouraged lifestyle when we are full of the Spirit of God and the joy of the Lord belongs to us and the peace of the Lord is ours? A root defiles our hearts. It keeps us from God's best.
Roots are below the surface. We see the tree trunk, leaves, and branches on the conscious, surface level. When you renew the spirit of your mind to God's best for your life, you are willing to dig up the negative roots and move toward a healed, whole heart.
The roots of your life, the issues in your heart, predict your future. It will not work to cover up, ignore, or deny them. Down the road, you will have a big garbage dump of issues that have never been dealt with.
What happens when truckload after truckload, acre after acre of garbage has been dumped in one area? Let's say one day the city says, "This thing is full," and covers it over with topsoil. After they cover the garbage, they plant some beautiful grass and everybody says, "We've got a new park." It looks so nice on the surface.
After a few short years, neighbors begin to experience headaches and physical problems. It is determined that methane gas is rising through the grass, so an elaborate system of piping is built to deal with the problem. The gases are gathered and burned off so the gas will not escape into the atmosphere.
Decontaminants From Below
You can cover the garbage of your past, but it will not heal your heart. When you come to church you may look nice, but gases are rising from the surface below. They are personality disorders. You love the Lord, you are on your way to heaven, but you still cannot get your relationships right. You trust God, you believe in God, you work hard, but you still struggle financially.
Maybe you believe the bible and you quote Scripture, but you cannot serve others or get close to them. You feel lonely, isolated, and separated. You call yourself a Christian, but you do not have time for your children, you talk disrespectfully about your husband, and you gossip to your neighbors.
You have believed in the Lord for years but have never introduced one person to Jesus. You barely find time to pray.
We can look good on the outside, but the hurts, pains, and problems of our past are bringing up gases. There is a tendency to blame others and point the finger. We want to say, "It's that spouse who left me," "It's that guy who raped me," "It's that parent who rejected me."
Certainly they had a part to play, but you have to decide right now if you want a whole healthy, healed heart.
Let Your Spiritual Roots Spring Up
God gives you opportunities to be healed, to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and to deal with those roots. Become aware, and decide not to hide what you can't hide anyway.
Natural roots can be very powerful; they can grow right up through the cement and tear a road to pieces.
They can spring up no matter how much concrete you put on top of them. Spiritual roots have a way of coming up when you least expect them. Be determined not to ignore or deny them or stay away from church to hide them.
Perhaps bad roots are affecting your marriage. Many marriage disagreements are not because of conscious decisions. They are the result of subconscious beliefs and attitudes. We display an attitude and react to something our spouse said and cannot rationally explain our reaction.
Our habits and attitudes are linked to a root system in our lives. In the natural, sometimes you can pull up one root and realize it has gone way over to the other side of the yard. It is not so easy to get rid of.
Likewise, in the spirit realm, we must begin to look below the surface of our lives.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers