Hebrews 12:15b, New Living Translation

"Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many."

When you are trying to fix something in your life the best thing to do is find the root problem. You must get down to the source of the trouble. The fruit will take care of itself once you uncover the root. The symptoms are much easier to deal with after you find and address the cause of the problem. 

Getting down to the root problem can be difficult because the root is not easy to see. You cannot see it without digging deep. And a lot of people don't have the patience to uncover everything that is lying above the root. If you truthfully work on uncovering the root, the Lord will help you find it and remove it.

When we are sick, the symptoms of our illness tend to show up way before the root is exposed. We may face symptoms such as anxiety, anger, financial chaos, etc. We lack peace and long for relief. Where does the pain originate? Our Great Physician offers us great clarity and help.

If we misunderstand the root of our problem, we will miss the true and complete healing! It's like trying to treat cancer with a Band-Aid. Our first line of attack is to address our thoughts. Jesus told us that our sinful, unhealthy thoughts originate from our sick hearts... Our hearts are ground zero. If not careful, we can make the common mistake of tackling the thoughts, but missing the heart. We become aware of our messed-up thinking, but we never stop to examine what's behind the messed-up thinking! We have to get to the deep root.

Jesus loves you and I enough to not allow us to constantly focus on cosmetic or temporal issues. He desires for you and I to get to the core of the matter, and address the root issues-the concerns of the heart. So much of what motivates us is the idols of the heart. We need to be careful who or what we worship in our hearts. The Lord is not content with leaving you or I in our surface search for temporary satisfaction. He will eventually dig deeper, and surgically cut out those idols.

If you only deal with the symptoms, the trouble will keep coming back, just like a stubborn weed in your garden. So, what are some things that may take root in your life? The root of bitterness, the root of the love of money, the root of hypocrisy, or root of unbelief? These are just a few common things to look for that commonly take root in our lives if we aren't careful. 

The way to deal with root problems is to dig deep until you find it and then pull it out and destroy it. (Ephesians 4:31) You must put your finger right on the initial source. We need to get down to the root problem in our lives. Examine your "tree" down to the root and get that root out of there now!

The Lord's objective for you and I is total victory in every area of life. We must attack the root causes of problems, and battle spiritually until you have achieved 100% victory.

It is vital that we persevere to discover the root cause of every problem... We can only do so with the Lord’s help. 

If the root causes of problems are not dealt with, then problems will only increase. Eliminate the spiritual giants of sin and they will no longer reproduce. We must deal with the root causes, and the surface manifestations will stop. As in the natural world, so it is in the spiritual: Cut the root and you will kill the fruit of the root.

When we get to the root, we find out who we really are and only then can we let the word of God, and the Holy Spirit go to work on us to clean up those ugly areas in your life. Start today, and let the Lord do some spiritual gardening in your life!