Oct 25, 2020 WWJWMTD by Steve, the son of John

I Have Gophers

I have a small ranch and the ranch has gophers. I do not think you can go anywhere in CA where gophers are not found. They destroy trees and eat just about everything you plant. These pests have given me more problems and headaches than all the other wildlife combined.

I have often questioned why God created these creatures. God could have created a gopher to dig holes but not eat tree roots; this would have made my life so much better & easier. I would not have lost about 40 fruit trees in 20 years.

I have walked up to a fruit tree that is beginning to lean and once I try to straighten it out, it just falls over to the ground—all the roots are gone, and it did not give much notice to what was happening to its roots hidden by the soil. This is exactly what is taking place in so many Christians’ lives today.

Hebrews 12:15 states, “See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” Bitterness is like ‘a root’ or as a hidden sickness in one’s life, but from experience, I believe it is more like a gopher that eats away at the very source of one’s life in Christ—the gift of the grace of God working in your life.

As a gopher cannot be noticed, it stays hidden in the ground. The bitterness stays undetected in one’s life, slowly eating away at the truth and grace of God that is keeping you alive in Him. After a while there is no life within you, it is gone—eaten away, never to return, never to be healed.

We become bitter in so many ways: not willing to forgive others, mad at God for whatever the reason, feelings of injustice and personal attacks, unwilling to have patience with others, thoughts that it is too hard to serve God, believing God does not love us—can not seem to please God, and lastly, becoming critical of the Body of Christ or the leadership of the Church. It is easy to become bitter, that is why we must offer Godly forgiveness to others and accept forgiveness from God (in that order).

Indeed, we are not perfect, and neither are others. It is time to allow the Holy Spirit to search not only our hearts but also our mind, soul, and spirit/strength to see if there is any bitterness (gophers) in our lives eating away at the Grace of God in our lives.

We must become perfect in Christ and that only comes through forgiveness and the washing & cleansing of His blood in every part of who we are and what we do. Let’s be like Jesus and find forgiveness for all hurt, bitterness, and resentment that has been eating away our love and joy for God and others. Get rid of those gophers!

WWJWMTD

What would Jesus want me to do?

Dr. Steven J. Wentland www.wwjwmtd.com

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