Hebrews 12:14, 15

‘Strive for peace with all men, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.  See to it that no one fail to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” spring up and cause trouble, and by it the many become defiled;’

The letter to the Hebrews is the most hard-hitting among all the letters in the New Testament. This could probably be the reason why the writer wished to remain incognito. There are many speculations as to who wrote this letter but the underlying fact is that ‘all scripture is inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16).

The author emphatically states that God’s people need to strive (which means agonize) to make two things happen in their lives. The first task is to be at peace with all men and the next uphill task is to become Holy - without which no one can see the Lord. He makes it clear, that we cannot achieve these two landmarks by our own efforts but with the grace of God. The only thing in life that prevents us from receiving this grace is the existing root of bitterness in our hearts which needs to be uprooted.

If the root of the tree is bitter then the fruits will also be bitter. Here are a few examples of the fruits of bitterness – envy, unforgiveness, anger, jealousy, hatred, deceit, slander, gossip, foul-language and the list goes on …

It was John the Baptist who said that the axe would be laid to the root of the tree (Matthew 3:10). The word Radix which means root is also the root word for radical.  The root of bitterness indicates that something is radically wrong with such a Christian and it defiles him before God.

Thought for the day: Only God’s grace can rectify the root to yield good fruit.