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PROGRAM W-1799 – Part I
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.”
I want us to take an in-depth look at these bitter roots which are mentioned here. None of us is exempt from bitterness and its awful after-effects. If you are not yet aware of these bitter roots, don’t know how to weed them out, or haven’t yet recognized the devastating ruin they can bring into your own life, the garden of your heart may be overrun right now with bitterness.
Here are some of the common bitter roots that can grow in our hearts.
- The bitter root of rejection
If you have experienced significant rejection in your life—from parents, siblings, mates, children, friends, or employers—you’ve probably had to deal with bitterness. Sometimes those rejections are blatant, sometimes subtle; but in every case they are painful. It’s very easy to allow the pain of rejection to start taking root in your heart and bloom into bitterness.
- The bitter root of unfulfilled dreams
Could it be that all your life you’ve had a certain dream, desire, hope, or 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 bitter root of being wronged
Who has done you wrong? Parents? Mate? Sibling? Employer? Co-Worker? Friend? When someone mistreats us, abuses us in any way, takes advantage of us, deceives us, or purposely tries to make our lives miserable, it creates a climate favorable to bitter roots.
- The bitter root of poor health
If you’re struggling with some health issue in your life, it can truly make you bitter. You can 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 because of the troubles and changes those health problems have brought to you or your family. With our aging population, caring for family members with poor health will become more and more common for all of us, and that kind of circumstance can cause bitterness.
- The bitter root 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, 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 you to know that you can have freedom from that bitterness if you want to.
First, we need to understand what happens when bitter roots start to grow in our hearts. Here are three important characteristics about bitter roots which we learn from this verse in Hebrews 12.
First, they grow.
When you allow bitterness to take root in your heart, you can bet that it will grow—and grow fast. It needs very little encouragement to grow; before you know it, those roots have dug down into your heart and ensconced themselves deeply in your life. You cannot harbor a little bitterness in your heart. You can’t hold onto one little bitter twig. It won’t stay that size. It always grows.
Second, they cause trouble.
Anytime you allow any little bitterness to take root in your heart, count on it causing you a great deal of trouble—as sure as night follows day. What kind of trouble?
Physical troubles, for one. It causes great stress, raises your blood pressure, shortens your life, harms your health, and changes your appearance. You may not think anyone knows about that bitter root growing in your heart, but believe me, they know. It shows on your face, through your body language, and you can hear it in the tone of your voice.
Recently a doctor was telling me about one of his patients who is so angry and bitter because of her husband’s death that it is causing her hands to be deformed. He said her hands are beginning to look like claws, and they cause her a great deal of pain. He is convinced that this physical problem is a direct result of the bitterness she has inside of her.
Bitterness causes emotional and mental trouble, too. A great many of the emotional and mental breakdowns we see today have their beginnings in bitterness that was never dealt with. When bitterness keeps growing, it starts to take over our minds and our thoughts, and a person can easily become obsessed and out of touch with reality because of bitterness.
Third, they defile many.
Defile means to spoil, corrupt, ruin, or harm. Those bitter roots in your heart not only do you great damage, they cause a lot of other people in your life great harm. Got some relationship problems right now? Dig underneath and you may find some bitterness lying there, either on your part or the part of the other person.
Funny thing is, when we’re bitter against one person, it affects all our relationships, not just the one we are bitter against. If you’ve got some bitter roots in your heart right now, they are spilling over to many of the people around you. As parents, we can transfer that bitter spirit to our children; as managers and employees, we can transfer it to our co-workers. It is a poison which affects everyone it touches.
How do bitter roots begin?
In order to get rid of these bitter roots, let’s look a little closer at how they got started in the first place. Let me read that verse again from Hebrews 12:15:
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.
Another translation says, “Be careful that none of you fails to respond to the grace which God gives” (PHILLIPS).
Have you been failing to respond to God’s grace?
Grace is a theological concept absolutely essential to our faith, but about which few Christians really know very much. If you had to define what God’s grace means to you, what would you tell me? J. I. Packer in his marvelous book, Knowing God, says that many church people “pay lip-service to the idea of grace, but there they stop. Their conception of grace is not so much debased as non-existent.” (p. 116-117). Like the writer to the Hebrews, he says many of us are missing the grace of God—failing to respond to God’s grace because we don’t know what it is or are not conscious of it in our daily lives.
But what does it mean to see to it that we don’t miss the grace of God, or that we respond to God’s grace? Well, when I am responding to God’s grace I am aware of where I’d be without him, how desperate my plight would be if I didn’t know Jesus, how dead in trespasses and sin I would be without his redemption, and how evil my own sinful heart is unless it is transformed by his power.
When I am responding to God’s grace, then I go into my day with a thankful heart and spirit. I am rejoicing because I remember that because of God’s grace, I not only escape the condemnation I deserve but I receive incredible gifts of grace—showers of blessings poured on me for which I am totally unworthy. Just saying those words gets my heart beating faster. I am so blessed because God has been gracious to me beyond belief. So are you. So are we all.
But here’s our problem: We forget about God’s grace. Or we’ve never really understood it. Or we are so self-focused that there’s no room left in our minds to think of anything except ourselves. Then what happens? Bitter roots. Why? We missed the grace of God; we responded to our own selfish natures instead of to God’s grace; we pay lip-service to grace but it has no impact in the living out of our everyday lives on our jobs, in our homes, wherever we are.
How do bitter roots begin? By missing the grace of God in our lives on a daily basis. How do we keep from missing the grace of God? The passage says “See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God. . .” You and I must see to it: take action; take precautions; establish disciplines that keep us from missing God’s grace.
One of my books is entitled Extraordinary Women by Grace. In this book, I relate the stories of six women in the Bible who were mightily used by God and became an important part of God’s plan. Yet they were all unqualified and undeserving in different ways. However, because of God’s grace, he chose these women to be his servants. Then I relate the stories of six contemporary women who each found themselves and their lives in difficult, impossible, and painful situations, yet God has reached down and salvaged their lives. I close the book with my own personal story, which is another example of God’s grace to a very undeserving woman—me.
As I wrote this book, my own heart was stirred and blessed by these wonderful stories of grace. Because I was immersed in those stories for days and weeks, I noticed how it changed me to focus on God’s grace. I was more thankful, joyful, and much more aware of God’s wonderful grace to me. That is why I wrote the book and why I hope many of you will read it. You’ll again see the evidence and proof of God’s grace in the lives of these thirteen women, and I’m hoping it will give you a new understanding of grace. Don’t miss God’s grace in your own life. When you do, you make it easy for the bitter roots to take hold and start growing.