Are You Just Mowing Off The Top?

Several years ago, my wife's brother and I cut down an old pine tree in our front yard. It was about 20-25 feet tall. I resolved that would be the last time I would ever be apart of that. As we cut through it, it began to lean toward our neighbors house! It stopped on the chainsaw that was now wedged in the tree. I got really sick to my stomach! Anyway, we got it down without it falling on my neighbors house. Thank the LORD! When the tree fell, it landed with a huge THUD! Sheila said the house shook inside. We began to cut it down to managable sizes to haul it off.

In just a few weeks after we had cut down the tree, I began to notice little miniature trees popping up all over my front yard! They were everywhere! Actually they would be taller than my grass! They grew fast! The original tree was gone, but now I was dealing with the babies, or seedlings, of that original tree! I would mow them down and it looked good. But then a couple of days later, there they were again. Growing, growing, growing!

The LORD spoke to me and said, "As long as you just mow the top of those off, they will continue to grow! Remove them by their root!"

For several weeks, everyday, I would go outside, especially after a rain, reach down to ground level and pull those miniature trees up by their root. It took almost a whole summer of that, but eventually they were gone. I learned a big lesson from the LORD through that.

You and I all have things in our lives that we deal with , most likely, on a daily basis. Much of the time we are just mowing the tops off of the things. But if we really want to deal with the things in our lives that we don't like, or that we believe the LORD is dealing with us about, we have got to remove those things by the root! As long as the root of that thing that is planted in our life is there, it can, and will, continue to grow. Continuing to be a problem to us.

See, God has done that very thing for us. He not only dealt sins (plural) we have committed, but He dealt with the root of the nature of sin in us. That is why we are the righteousness of God in Christ, 2 Corintians 5:21. But have you noticed that there is some residual effects of the nature of sin that still lingers in our souls? That is where we need to begin to remove these things by the root! Our spirit is already a new creation! Our soul is the realm that is being renewed into the image of Christ, or becoming more Christ-like. It is our mind, will, and emotions, or, if you would, what we think, what we want, and what we feel. We still struggle in those areas, don't we? This is the arena where the seedlings of that old tree, or nature, still grow. But as we continue to apply the Word of the LORD to our soul, it removes, at the root, those little seedlings. James 1:21, in the Amplified Bible says, "So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a humble (gentle, modest) spirit receive and welcome the Word which implanted and rooted [in your hearts] contains the power to save your souls." Allow the Word of the LORD to be planted, and take root, in your life. That is the renewing, or the saving, our our souls!

To finish this, we must reach down and grab those things by the root and pull them out! Don't just mow off the tops!