Root Systems

Jesus taught a crowd of people that were gathered to him, about what defiles a person. He explained that it is not what goes into a person’s mouth that defiled them, but what came out of their mouth. One of his disciples explained to him that the Pharisees took offence to what he said. Jesus’s response was that any plant that had not been planted by the father would be rooted up. In essence, He was saying that there were things planted by the father and other plants sown by someone else. He told the parable about the wheat and tares in Matthew 13, to illustrate the Kingdom of heaven. In this parable, a farmer went out and sowed good seed in his field. While he slept, an enemy came along and sowed thorns among the wheat.

In this instance, the farmer told the servants to allow the wheat and tares to grow together until the day of harvest. At harvest time, the thorns would be separated from the wheat and burnt. In Matthew 15, Jesus was referring to the Pharisees who had established themselves as the religious authority among the Jews. They had religion without salvation and a form of godliness without the power of Christ. It’s safe to say that their root system was faulty. The foundation of their beliefs and values were in the legalistic requirements of the Old Testament law. While Jesus did not come to do away with the law, he came for its fulfilment. The New Testament ushered in the dispensation of grace through faith and the free gift of salvation.

The Pharisees were so entrenched in their religious laws and doctrines, that they could not grasp the concept of salvation being a free gift. Their foundational root system was entrenched in their history and the laws of Moses. While our history is extremely important to understand where we are coming from, it should provide information and revelation for the future. Many people have carried on traditions, customs and practices that have been passed down from previous generations. It is important to examine our history to see the things that led to failures. Just because your grandmother, great grandmother, great great grandmother did something does not mean that you have to carry on doing it. The main lens for us to test values and ideas is the word of God.

Whatever we have been taught that runs contrary to the word of God, is not worthwhile keeping. There are many things which our fore parents did for survival, that may have been useful at the time. However, not everything is useful for subsequent generations. We have to examine our root systems to determine what is informing our actions. What seeds have been sown illegally into your heart and mind, that have taken root and are bearing unpleasant fruits? We have to deal with the root causes of some issues and stop trying to address major issues on the surface. Significant relationships with parents and relatives are the main sources of seeds being planted in us. In the same way that negative trees are planted, the word of God is able to root them out!

“Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine”(Jeremiah 2:21)?

A.P.-Y.