Root of the problem

Our Daily Bread
It is amazing how people change.  I remember how much I enjoyed dandelions when I was a kid.  They were sooooooo pretty in bloom.  They were so much fun when I picked one and blew off the seeds.  As an adult, I use a special tool to dig out the roots and chemicals to keep them in check!

I learned as an adult that if you don't get the root of a dandelion, it will continue to grow back.  It is the same of what Hebrews 12:15 calls "the root of bitterness".  We have to ask God to use his special tool called the Holy Spirit to get out those roots so we can treat others they way we are supposed to and love God the way we are supposed to!  It is only through removing the roots of bitterness that we can truly be free and forgive others.

This is the second or third lesson on this topic I have read in the past couple of months.  As I thought about it this morning, I can see more roots that I didn't notice or didn't want to notice.  They come out when you least expect them to, like during a phone conversation with someone last night.  Roots will grow if we don't get rid of them!

Lord, please help us let you dig deep and remove all roots of bitterness from our lives!

Teaching Tuesday
The lesson this week was about Solomon.  There were a lot of interesting insights into how he became king and how he ran his kingdom.  While he is known for his wisdom, he was too often influenced by this foreign wives when it came to cultic worship.  Instead of remaining faithful to YAWH, he allowed temples and high places to be built to foreign gods of his wives.  Not good!  You would think he would have learned from the mistakes of his forefathers!

What did I learn from the lesson?  I learned that even very wise people can make mistakes.  People who know better can be influenced by others and do stupid stuff at times.  Wise people can push others too hard.

That reminds me that we need to rely on God more and more!

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I am far from perfect, but despite my mistakes and my sins, I will never abandon the Lord and he will never abandon me - adapted from a statement about Abraham from the EfM Training Guide