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I’m not much of a gardener, but I’ve discovered that if you let weeds take root—and can they ever take root fast—it’s really a hard job to pull them up. Oh, you can pull off the top growth pretty easily, but if you don’t get those roots, that weed is up again before you turn your back.
The same is true with the garden of our hearts. Bitter roots can so easily dig down into our souls and cause us so much trouble. In Hebrews 12:15 we read: “See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.”
What are some of the common bitter roots that can grow in our hearts?
- The bitterness of rejection
So many of you have experienced significant rejection in your life—from parents, from siblings, from mates, from children, from friends, from employers. Sometimes those rejections are blatant, sometimes subtle, but in every case they are painful. And it’s very easy to allow the pain of rejection to start taking root in your heart and bloom into bitterness.
- The bitterness of unfulfilled dreams
Could it be that all your life you’ve had a certain dream, a desire, a hope, a passion, but in spite of lots of prayer, that dream hasn’t come true? Your knight in shining armor is a no-show; those children you want so badly haven’t been born; the education/career/success you carefully planned are still on the planning board. Unfulfilled dreams create a fertile ground for bitter roots.
- The bitterness of poor health
If you’re struggling with some health issue in your life, it can truly make you bitter. You start looking at healthy people with envy and anger because they are healthy and you are not. Or it could be that someone close to you is having health problems, causing you to be bitter.
- The bitterness of loss
What have you lost lately? Your job? Your pride? Has death robbed you of a loved one? Or divorce? Or has sin taken away a close relationship with a child or parent or friend? Losses like these are bitter pills to swallow, and that root can dig deep down very quickly.
If you suspect that any of these bitter roots—or some I haven’t mentioned—is taking root in your heart, I want to encourage you because you can know freedom from that bitterness if you want to.
