Kill The Root, Kill The Tree

My son lives in New Orleans, where a large oak tree in his front yard has been causing a problem. Some of its roots have grown underneath their walkway, pushing the concrete up and creating quite an unsightly tripping hazard. 

So we’ve been talking about replacing the sidewalk. The obvious solution seems simple enough: cut out the root that’s causing the problem.

But there’s a catch. The roots keep the tree alive and stable. Remove the roots, and we could kill the tree or destabilize it, causing it to fall. 

It got me thinking about how we do the same thing in life.

We see something we don’t like, so we try to eliminate it. We address the visible problem without giving much thought to what’s causing it. And sometimes, in our effort to fix one thing, we end up creating a much bigger problem.

Consider our behavior. We get angry, so we try to control our temper. We struggle with jealousy, so we try to hide it. We say hurtful things, so we try to keep quiet.

Those are good things to do, but the problem is almost always deeper.

Jesus said that the things that come out of us originate in our hearts (Mark 7:20–23). Our words and actions are symptoms of something happening beneath the surface.

That anger may be our pride surfacing. That jealousy may stem from insecurity. Harsh words may reveal a lack of love for the person they were directed at or about.

We can spend a lifetime trimming branches while leaving the root untouched.

James describes how sinful desire, when it is allowed to grow, eventually gives birth to sin, and sin produces death (James 1:14–15). The process begins beneath the surface long before the consequences become obvious.

So what do we do?

We need to ask God to help us look deeper. Instead of merely asking Him to help us stop doing something wrong, we should ask Him to show us what is going on in our hearts. What am I believing? What am I wanting? What am I unwilling to surrender to Him?

Psalm 139:23–24 gives us a good place to start: “Search me, O God, and know my heart” (ESV).

That’s not always a comfortable prayer. We may discover that the problem isn’t just our circumstances, another person, or a frustrating situation. Sometimes the problem is us.

But that’s where real change begins. Not by pretending the problem isn’t there, and not by simply covering it up, but by allowing God to deal with it at its source.

What are you trying to fix in your life right now? Have you considered that the problem might be rooted deeper than you think?