A Root of Bitterness Will Never Produce Healthy Fruit

“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

Dear Friends,

Weeds…who likes them?! I used to try and motivate one of our good-natured groundskeepers by asking him to repeat after me the words, “I hate weeds!” Weeds are terrible! As the writer of Hebrews points out, “many are defiled” by the pervasive effects of bitterness.

The Holy Spirit used the illustration of weeds growing silently underground to remind us of the devastating effects of a bitter spirit. Too often just beneath the peaceful façade of good soil is an ugly root that is sucking life from the soil and pushing through anything good.

Does the fact that the bitter root is barely noticeable mean it is harmless? No! Instead, you can be sure that the root is sucking the spiritual life from you and using it to nourish a weed of anger, impatience, or resentment. A root of bitterness will never produce healthy fruit.

It’s time to unearth and dig out of any root of bitterness with the shovel of the Word of God. Don’t use an old “Hula Hoe” that only deals with surface weeds. Get to the root of the matter by having a personal conference with God where you write down – on paper – what’s eating at you and find a promise to attack it!

Killing Weeds,

Dr. Tim Pollock, Senior Pastor