Root Rot
My family and I are doing a week long devotional about what it looks to strengthen and renew your mind so you can fight against satan and his attempts at messing us up. Today’s writing sparked an analogy in my mind that the Lord really used to help me understand myself better, hopefully it can do the same for you.
Basically the whole reading was about how we focus too much on our bad behaviors instead of focusing on the inside of ourselves where the root of the issues began. We say “I’m going to eat healthy and exercise everyday” or “I’m going to stop watching Netflix for the rest of the year” and then when it doesn’t happen we are disappointed and annoyed with ourselves. That’s all because altering the outside doesn’t change the inside.
This all reminded me of root rot (yes I’m talking about plants again just deal with it.) Root rot is when a plants soil is too soggy or the pot doesn’t have good drainage which then results in the roots getting soft and brown instead of firm and white like they should be. You can usually tell if your plant is experiencing this if their leaves are wilting or if they are turning yellow or brown. I think for us as humans we experience the same thing a lot of times. When our heart is not in a good place and our mind isn’t focused on the Lord then our actions and decisions start to change in a negative way. But we can’t fix the problems on the outside if we don’t deal with the stuff on the inside first. Our “roots" need to be strong in the Lord and our mind filled with His word if we ever want our behaviors to change. Saying you’ll stop doing something is one thing, but taking a deeper look into why the behavior started in the first place is a whole other ball game.
I keep coming back to this verse - “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2 The transformation starts in our minds and our hearts, not in the things we give up for lent or all the new years resolutions we make. It’s all about what we look like on the inside. I encourage you to examine yourself and see if there are areas in your life where you aren’t making the best decisions and see if there is a deeper issue there you can address. That may sound exhausting so don’t try to tackle it all at once, start with the little things and eventually you’ll be strong enough to workout the big stuff. Don’t stress, we all have brown roots, you’re not alone in this!
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