When dealing with a problem, it's important that we address the “root” (the cause of the problem) and not just the “branches” (the symptoms of the problem). “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” - 1 Timothy 6:10. The subject of today's blog entry is "Dealing With The Root".
“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” - Colossians 2:6-7
As born again believers, we should be rooted in Christ. We should constantly be making an effort to grow in our relationship with Him. We should be producing good fruit. As it says in Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” A Christian should be growing in the areas mentioned in these verses. If we're having a challenge growing in a certain area, we should take an honest look at our lives, and see what we could be doing that is contributing to the challenge. We need to make sure that Christ in truly number one in our lives. God knows our hearts and He sees our motives. We should consistently spend time reading the Bible. We should also put what we learn from reading the Bible into practice. We should be willing to give up anything that God tells us to give up. Nothing comes before God.
The Bible uses the example of a runner running a race to describe the Christian life (see 1 Corinthians 9:24, 2 Timothy 4:7, Hebrews 12:1). I think back to a time when I use to run cross country in high school and the coach was addressing the team making a point of how you can't be afraid to hurt when you're running. By “hurt” he wasn't referring to a physical injury. But rather to the pain your body can feel when you're really pushing yourself has hard as you can go. People who have run long distance can probably relate to this because when you're coming down the last 100 meters of that race, and you're trying to pick up the pace as fast as you can, your body can definitely hurt...lol...The bottom line is regardless of how hard it hurts, you still want to finish strong. In our Christian walk, God may have us do things that appear to be very hard (it could be letting go of a certain person in your life, moving to a different place geographically, etc), but we should be obedient and do what God says regardless of how hard it seems.
“Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;” - Hebrews 12:15
Here's another analogy to illustrate the point I want to make. Say you have a person that has broken a bone in their body. As a result they are having severe pain and go to the hospital. After they get to the hospital they are eventually given medication for the pain and as a result they no longer feel pain at the time. The doctor begins to talk to them about the plan to treat the broken bone moving forward, but the person says “No thanks Doc, the pain is gone, I'm all better now, so I'm leaving” and tries to leave the hospital. This person is obviously overlooking the fact that the pain medication only treated the symptoms and the bone is still broken. In our Christian walk let us remember to look at the root of the issue, not just the symptoms of the issue.
“For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” - Jeremiah 17:8-10
“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” - Colossians 2:6-7
As born again believers, we should be rooted in Christ. We should constantly be making an effort to grow in our relationship with Him. We should be producing good fruit. As it says in Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” A Christian should be growing in the areas mentioned in these verses. If we're having a challenge growing in a certain area, we should take an honest look at our lives, and see what we could be doing that is contributing to the challenge. We need to make sure that Christ in truly number one in our lives. God knows our hearts and He sees our motives. We should consistently spend time reading the Bible. We should also put what we learn from reading the Bible into practice. We should be willing to give up anything that God tells us to give up. Nothing comes before God.
The Bible uses the example of a runner running a race to describe the Christian life (see 1 Corinthians 9:24, 2 Timothy 4:7, Hebrews 12:1). I think back to a time when I use to run cross country in high school and the coach was addressing the team making a point of how you can't be afraid to hurt when you're running. By “hurt” he wasn't referring to a physical injury. But rather to the pain your body can feel when you're really pushing yourself has hard as you can go. People who have run long distance can probably relate to this because when you're coming down the last 100 meters of that race, and you're trying to pick up the pace as fast as you can, your body can definitely hurt...lol...The bottom line is regardless of how hard it hurts, you still want to finish strong. In our Christian walk, God may have us do things that appear to be very hard (it could be letting go of a certain person in your life, moving to a different place geographically, etc), but we should be obedient and do what God says regardless of how hard it seems.
“Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;” - Hebrews 12:15
Here's another analogy to illustrate the point I want to make. Say you have a person that has broken a bone in their body. As a result they are having severe pain and go to the hospital. After they get to the hospital they are eventually given medication for the pain and as a result they no longer feel pain at the time. The doctor begins to talk to them about the plan to treat the broken bone moving forward, but the person says “No thanks Doc, the pain is gone, I'm all better now, so I'm leaving” and tries to leave the hospital. This person is obviously overlooking the fact that the pain medication only treated the symptoms and the bone is still broken. In our Christian walk let us remember to look at the root of the issue, not just the symptoms of the issue.
“For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” - Jeremiah 17:8-10