Hebrews 12:15, commentary and pictures

The verse commands diligent, vigilant watching so that no one falls short of the grace of God and no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many, together with following peace and holiness and healing the weak rather than turning them aside.
To fail of the grace is to fall short of the rich grace stored for those who labor with God, selling like Esau the birthright of high temporal and spiritual blessings Christ brought within reach, so that slighted privilege forfeits the immortal inheritance.
The root of bitterness is any cherished sin and selfish principle — envy, malice, jealousy, pride, criticism, talebearing, murmuring, grievance and unbelief — nourished until it produces disobedience, discord and defilement.
Once springing up it is told and spread as leaven, sown especially by tongue and voice in complaints, evil reports and accusations, infecting and wounding many, destroying love and confidence and turning souls out of the way.
Looking diligently means turning the eyes inward to search motives and character by God's law, digging out every fiber of the root at once by thorough confession, repentance and cleansing through Christ, and settling grievances directly in love instead of voicing them to others.

Words and Immediate Context

The verse calls for diligent, careful, vigilant watching so that no one fails, falls away, or falls short of the grace of God, and so that no root of bitterness springs up, grows, troubles the community, and defiles many. That watchfulness is inward self-examination rather than watching for faults in others, for selfishness and related evils left in the heart can produce bitterness and harm the church. It forbids listless or careless living and requires closely examining motives, actions, character, feelings, words, daily influence, and the spirit prompting them. Provoking words and unbridled anger stir strife and spread harm, so the warning calls for meekness, restraint, and peace with others.

This vigilance belongs together with following peace with all men and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. It belongs together with gentle, peaceable treatment that helps, heals, strengthens, and restores the weak and those who err in a spirit of meekness, rather than turning them aside, discouraging them, or harming them by bitterness and harsh treatment. Members are to help and strengthen one another without self-exaltation, accusation, or harshness, purifying themselves through love and obedience to the truth. The warning applies amid a church containing sincere and lukewarm people, where believers must not become discouraged nor take it upon themselves to judge and root out those who are failing.

It belongs together with lifting up the hands that hang down, strengthening weak hands and feeble knees, confirming them, and making straight paths for the feet so that what is lame is healed rather than turned out of the way. Making crooked paths through want of faith and intelligent knowledge of the Scriptures turns the lame out of the way instead of letting them be healed, while coming very close to God by carrying the spirit and teachings of Christ into everyday life and by looking critically at self compared with the only standard of righteousness keeps the path straight. Rich grace is in store for those who labor together with God and gives the highest incentive to form a character God can approve, so no one need be hopeless or sink into discouragement, even those in the darkness of error when Christ is presented in all His fullness. That same watchfulness is joined to laying aside weights and easily besetting sin, running the race with patience looking to Jesus, receiving chastening that yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness, walking straight forward in the path of duty, showing integrity that will not turn aside for personal advantage, fixing the mind on heaven with resolve to see the King in His beauty, and refusing to exert influence against the truth of Christ to please any human being because He gave His life.

The danger is illustrated by Esau, who for appetite, inclination, love of selfish indulgence, pleasure and gain, and immediate gratification traded his birthright and showed disrespect for sacred things and for spiritual things. Failing of grace is selling the birthright that belongs to every soul born into the world, the high temporal and spiritual blessings Christ brought within reach and secured at infinite cost, so neglecting grace, slighting privileges, and yielding to sin for a passing desire forfeits what is precious and brings lasting loss. Selfish acts put a person in danger of surrendering the birthright as Esau did, therefore each person must closely examine motives, actions, and daily influence.

The charge is a word from God to every church member, including Sabbath-keeping Adventists who continue in sin, commanding diligent watchfulness lest anyone fail of grace while counterworking the work of God and leading others into sin. It is spoken especially to those who claim to be servants of God and to responsible men, including responsible workers in publishing institutions, calling them to humility and to become learners in the school of Christ so the softening, subduing power of God can come into their lives and the Spirit can work with them. It is part of the special work God's people are to do at this time, the same as strengthening weak hands and confirming feeble knees, even the last message of mercy to a fallen world. The chapter is also guidance for enduring trials, persecution, and the stern conflicts of life by faith, where choices shape character and affect whether souls are saved or ruined.

Failing the Grace of God

To fail of the grace of God is to fall short of the rich grace stored for those who labor together with God, the highest incentive to form a character He can approve, so that no one need be hopeless or sink into discouragement even in the darkness of error when Christ is presented in fullness. It is to sell the birthright belonging to every soul born into the world, the high temporal and spiritual blessings Christ brought within reach and secured at infinite cost, with the spirit of Esau who had no respect for sacred things and sacrificed spiritual things for appetite, selfish indulgence, pleasure, and gain. To slight privileges, opportunities, and blessings in a time of peril is to miss that grace and forfeit title to the immortal inheritance, for to lose heaven is to lose everything, while Satan by deceitful unrighteousness stirs strife so that while brethren fight each other he secures perishing souls around them. Neglect to let light shine leads to that same failing and loss of what is valuable, and the safeguard is careful, humble conduct that puts away dissension, fault-finding, evil speaking, and bitterness and cherishes kindness, love, and compassion, so that unity bears witness that Jesus is the Son of God.

Failing comes when one claiming to be Christian entertains one temptation from the devil and nourishes it until it becomes a root of bitterness that makes him work in evil lines. That root then troubles and defiles many, and those many poison a still larger number, because one who fails leads many others by precept and example to fail to fix their eyes on the Lord Jesus. The safeguard, especially for men in responsible positions, is to keep the eyes upon the Leader, the Lamb of God, and learn of Him, so as to practice the Word most diligently and not merely profess to believe the truth, leaving neither time nor disposition to come in touch with the champions of evil abundant in the last days. Moving heedlessly forward starts a train of circumstances leading to evils beyond control, throwing a grain of thought into humanity which Satan keeps alive until the root springs up, and ministers and stewards of grace in any line of service must not mingle the common with the sacred, lest many be defiled and the result be charged to them. Grievances spoken with bitterness likewise plant suspicion and distrust, poison faith, and lead to evil speaking and division between fellow believers.

Failing means violating baptismal vows of death to sin and new life in and through Jesus Christ by striving to be first in assemblies and constantly working for self-promotion, which serves Satan, dishonors God, and hinders the advance of His work in higher education. The root joined to that failing is strife, contention, and picking flaws in others, and seeing the Lord requires following peace with all and holiness through maintaining those vows, heart-searching, repentance and conversion, and ceasing fault-finding, for unless every soul repents and is converted he will have no part with Christ and will not see His glory. It also means neglecting the cleansing work of confessing sins before God and purifying character while being zealous to condemn another's defects and weakness of character. Such condemning leaves the condemner guilty at last of worse faults than those condemned in another, and calls for diligent self-examination lest hearts unsanctified by grace foster harmful feelings and actions.

Failing is caused when coldness, harshness, unkindness, unfeeling decisions, and words and looks of contempt turn souls from the straight path that leads to Christ instead of healing the lame and encouraging those who need encouragement, thereby defiling, bruising, wounding, and driving many from Christ. It is caused when preaching alone is counted enough and converts are not taught line upon line to advance, to be made perfect in Christ, and to live blameless as lights in a crooked nation holding forth the word of life, for if the minister gives the church a human mould instead of the divine, those he labors for are endangered, his own salvation is imperiled, his hope of heaven grows dim, and knowledge, eloquence, miracles, and views of eternal scenes become unavailing. It is caused by overconfidence that believes no one can exert influence and that every part of the work can be understood alone, rejecting counsel and holding an overconfident view of one's own judgment unto spiritual loss, with special warning to self-assured ministers that unless they are converted they will not overcome. Self-deception and high-mindedness that seek glory for self while appearing to exalt others must be guarded against by humility practiced as well as professed, for genuine faith in Christ brings conversion, works through love, purifies the soul, and diligently makes calling and election sure.

Nature of Bitter Root

The root of bitterness means any kind of evil, any cherished sin, and any selfish principle that produces disobedience, rebellion, discontent and murmuring in opposition to God, keeps the person going backward spiritually, and must be pardoned, cleansed and brought into willing obedience, and selfishness allowed to grow becomes such a root that troubles and defiles many and must be rooted out and replaced with love. Any wrong or poisonous spirit must be removed from the heart before it contaminates those around.

The root is cherished sin, especially lustful and unclean practices held under Satan's deception until sin is no longer discerned as sinful, defiling conscience, corrupting heart and thoughts, and making the sinner a decoy luring others into defiling practices that defile the whole being. It also includes covetousness, unbelief, criticism, evil-speaking, hardheartedness, striving for supremacy, and evil thoughts cherished and passed from one to another, which cannot merely be covered but must be recognized, cast out, and killed by truth working in the heart, with thoughts and words changed.

The root is selfishness allowed to develop, which hides the Saviour from view, corrupts the whole experience and the whole man, and if it remains troubles and contaminates many others. It strives for supremacy, self-promotion and advantage over God's agencies, starting with determined choice to follow self-formed plans for self-serving advantage instead of God's ways and will, such as demanding first place and turning to independent business when denied and calculating without God, producing corrupted tainted thoughts and actions, cherishing feelings that demerit the work, employing methods to come out ahead, and bringing discord, strife and alienation. By Satan's studied plan it breaks harmony, nourishes rivalry, and defeats God's purpose, and it is removed by self-control, taking in the words of life, following Christ the great Example, giving the whole being to Him who bought with a price and was lifted on the cross, rather than becoming absorbed in worldly things, which brings harmony and turns attention to God and the Redeemer.

The root is selfishness in specific forms: covetousness and love of money, disputes over a father's property and a parent's will that disturb family peace, happiness and confidence, produce quarreling, envy and dissatisfaction, and turn wealth meant as blessing into snare and division. It includes selfish effort to take control of writers' God-given talents and profits, selfish seed sown and cherished as golden treasure that springs up with luxuriant growth, and selfishness introduced under pretense of necessity that displeases God, corrupts experience of those who cannot discern it, spreads harm through a whole community, spreads disaffection, suspicion and loss of confidence, and disqualifies and unfits a worker from sacred trust.

The root is envy, malice, jealousy, dissension, hatred, evil surmising, impatience, prejudice, vanity, pride and self-exaltation, planted by Satan in the heart as poisonous seed that troubles, contaminates, kills love, misrepresents Christ, and multiplies its influence through time and eternity as each act bears fruit in others. Unkind thoughts, speech and malice toward fellow believers must not be cherished but be uprooted through grace with Christ's love taking possession of heart and showing in words and actions, for without this change a person cannot be accepted before God and does not belong to Christ. Nourishing envy, jealousy, suspicion, tale-bearing, fault-finding, self-will, self-interest, love of power or gain, fretting, censure, complaining, variance and contention while professing worship and commandment-keeping brings no lasting good, hinders the Holy Spirit, can lead to murmuring against God, imagines great wrongs where none exist and magnifies little matters, and must be put away with cleansed heart, humbled self, and seeking the Lord, letting love pervade the soul, Christ dwell in the heart, and love, peace, harmony, affection and happiness be cultivated daily especially in the home as center of purest affection under the Sun of Righteousness.

The root is faultfinding, criticism, accusing and condemning brethren, discouraging them, listening to criticisms and communicating them to strengthen one another in evil work, with strife for supremacy and self-complacency and speaking evil, which shuts Christ's peace, faith, love and grace out of heart and mind, weakens God's servants, robs faithful workers of strength, hope and faith, hinders good work, stirs strife, undermines respect for workers, and brings the soul into condemnation. Persistent faultfinding and criticism are poisonous weeds that harm others unless recognized and rooted out, and the root must be killed before it grows by dying to self, purging self-complacency, never more indulging evil speaking, leaving the Lord to deal with deficient cases, dwelling on praiseworthy precious qualities, helping and strengthening one another, and following the Bible rule when correction is needed.

The root is talebearing, backbiting, slander, false reports, blackening character, inspiring hearts with maliciousness, and carrying gossip to neighbors without sparing even God's messenger, corrupting minds, spirits and souls of hearers so they lose the Spirit of God. Putting cherished evil thoughts into another's mind does Satan's work by setting that mind to watch with keen scrutiny, think and speak evil of brethren, and pass along poison to others. This evil is worse than the sin of Achan, nearly leavens the whole church, greatly weakens it, holds back blessing, enlists professed Christians in Satan's work, and God cannot bless the church until it is purged by repentance and change of course, taken hold of and dealt with by Bible rule with separation of the unrepentant, staying awake, refusing to use abilities to tear down those God chose, keeping quiet unless speaking in patience, kindness and tenderness to win minds, separating from the tempter and clinging to the Lord in unity.

The root is murmuring, complaining, self-pity and disaffection over words or acts that displease or seem to deny due consideration, carrying on the work Satan began in heaven in sowing unbelief, discord and disloyalty. It cannot be kept private but must be told to others that due treatment was denied, leading them to murmur and complain, which is the meaning of springing up as telling, spreading, striking down deep and communicating from one to others, whereby many become infected with confused untruthful statements and unscrupulous principles, becoming helpers Satan wants through evil angels confederating with professed believers to bring severe trials on faithful workers without partiality and hypocrisy, with success proportionate to light and knowledge of opposers. Complaining in spirit, words and writing is not led by the Spirit of God, reacts back to discourage and harm the accuser, uproots faith in God-given work, turns out of the plain path, and where forgiveness, unity, love, tender sympathy, forbearance and Christlike speech and action are lacking, past difficulty opened afresh by the enemy is magnified with evil thinking into large exaggerated proportions exerting deadly influence, requiring the oil of grace so wheels move without friction.

The root is cherished grievance, resentment, malice toward those who do not coincide with human plans, bitter speech, anger, suspicion over shared sacrifice, and an unforgiving spirit, which deepens estrangement, harms mind and usefulness, troubles the harborer as well as others, rejects Bible principles, works against restoring work, and leads others into sinful attitudes and actions. Merely removing outward signs or repenting this or that particular act leaves the root alive to flourish wonderfully and bear poisonous fruit, for wrongdoing overflows from an unclean unconverted heart, so the heart must be cleansed, returned, reformed and regenerated with mind's eyes enlightened to discern good and evil and sin removed through the blood of sprinkling melting the soul by love of Jesus and abhorrence of sin. Diligence means watching and praying rather than acting from fury and selfishness, and school-ground grievances and false accusations show seeds planted by not following God's Word.

The root is prejudice and opposition toward God's message and messengers held since Minneapolis, and persistent opinion whose top was cut down but whose root was never eradicated and is ready to spring into life and bear the same harvest again. It poisons judgment, perverts perception, blinds understanding toward message and messengers, and is maintained by secretly cherishing dissension with vanity and perverse speech and lifting soul unto vanity in a spirit unlike Christ's, bringing God's frown, failing to make straight paths for lame and halting in faith, and leaving unfit as vessels unto honor for latter rain and light of the angel to lighten earth. Looking diligently means destroying the root by thorough confession and studying the Word not to confirm ideas but to have them trimmed, condemned or approved by harmony with the Word, keeping Bible as constant companion and studying Testimonies without picking sentences to strengthen assertions while disregarding correction, and without this thorough work souls are never cleared but see light in God's light when it is done.

The root is planted when important truths for this time are lost sight of while what is new, strange and entrancing is sought, and when reproof by the Spirit through appointed agencies is refused. The refused then become bitter enemies and falsifiers of those who told them the truth, hate him who reproves at the gate, teach truth while not perfecting ways before God, conceal defections, encourage estrangement from God, lack moral courage to do what is for special benefit, see no necessity for reform, reject the Lord's words, and give Satan every advantage against servants carrying heavy disagreeable burdens.

The root is unbelief and opposition to the pillars of faith, seeds of unbelief taking root under temptation, false or careless teaching, subtle theories that weaken God's Word and make sin seem less sinful, and premature pressing of religious differences, which spread doubt, create resistance to truth, discourage and scatter believers, hinder worship and freedom, make faithful labor doubly hard, keep the church small and weak, and leave impressions only God can efface. Questioning established truth, spreading false reports, creating suspicion and doubt, and planting this old root in one church spreads influence to other churches and takes time to eradicate, removed by speaking at right time when God lays burden without hesitation whether men hear or forbear and pressing through though some are left outside, so truth triumphs.

The root is coldness, harshness, contempt, unkind thoughts and looks, unfeeling decisions, self-righteous condemnation that crushes hope and courage in response to goodness of true Christians, want of harmony and party feeling, political remarks by responsible persons that mix the common with the sacred, and professed religion without conversion that dissects character and rides over authority. Such spirit troubles souls, turns them from straight path to Christ instead of healing lame and encouraging needy, thereby bruising, wounding and driving many from Christ, and words or thoughts inspired by Satan set harmful consequences in motion while influence bearing heaven's approval bears good fruit. Want of harmony can exist long years without full eradication, springing again and again unless every fiber is rooted out, bringing great harm, distracting and destroying as when union with temperance club produced division and neglect of weightier matters and peculiar holy faith, and mere quelled but not dead root with suspicion, jealousies, insubordination and disrespect, like Jehu-like zeal ferreting condemnation as in Brother Bell's case, will flourish wonderfully and arouse in greater force when occasion offers.

Spread of Defilement

Springing up is telling, spreading, striking down deep, and communicating bitterness from one to another, for disaffection cannot be kept private but must be voiced to others as not being treated as deserved. One who fails of grace leads many others by precept and example to fail to fix their eyes on Jesus, and those many then poison a still larger number. Envy, malice, dissension and every kind of evil act as bitter seed taking root, and each act and word bears fruit in others so influence multiplies through time and for eternity. Heedless forward movement starts trains of circumstances beyond control, throwing a grain of thought into humanity which the adversary keeps alive until the root troubles and defiles many, with success proportionate to the light and knowledge of opposers and with confused statements and unscrupulous principles making the disaffected his helpers against faithful, impartial workers.

The spread works as leaven put into meal leavening the whole lump, for criticism thoughtlessly introduced into minds hinders good work and robs faithful workers of strength and hope and faith. The leaven of selfishness, covetousness, hardheartedness and striving for supremacy gathers everything to itself and subdues the whole person, removing mercy and tender consideration and letting objectionable traits grow quickly into giants of evil. Mistrust and suspicion scattered from house to house under pretense of missionary work germinates speedily into distrust of messengers bearing the divine word, leavening other minds with evil surmising and evil speaking. Once grown into a poisonous root it makes hearts unwilling to hear or respond when God speaks through His servants, so no earthly or heavenly power can gain access to the soul, turning souls away from Christ and leaving the planter accountable for imperiled souls he cannot restore.

The tongue and voice sow the root by careless and suspicious words, by manufacturing grievances over denied favor, by telling little confidence in brethren, and by talking of difficulties until they look large. One tells a small complaint and another magnifies a little thing into a large matter, sowing doubt and criticism, creating enmity in the mind, making others suspicious so they think evil and accuse likewise. Deceptive, poisonous words and unfavorable reports about faults plant bitterness that takes root, weakens trust and love, creates suspicion, conflict and disunity, and leads others to see a person falsely. This snaps faith, destroys confidence in brethren, breaks the hold of trembling souls on God, tears away their last hold on their brethren, wrecks faith to eternal loss, and brings reproach at the judgment and an account at the final reckoning for ruining the weak in faith.

Even one fiber left will spring up again when least expected, when temptation comes, or when the adversary stirs it, so cutting back outward growth without deep change leaves the root alive. False thoughts, suspicions, resentment and envy may be quiet for a time but circumstances revive them, and indulging them strengthens them as habit toward ruin until they arouse in greater force and flourish wonderfully. Want of harmony can exist for long years without full eradication, springing up again and again to distract and destroy, as when party feeling, unwise words and division over outside alliances neglected weightier spiritual matters and the separate holy position. Surface response to truth is not enough; only daily faith working by love purifying the soul, with complete removal, wholehearted rededication and reconversion, prevents return and corruption of many.

Many defiled means many infected, bruised, wounded and driven from Christ, turned out of the straight path instead of healed and encouraged. Accusing and condemning brethren and dwelling on faults and failings plants bitter roots that make brother suspicious of brother, unsettle confidence, bring variance into the church and destroy love. Doubts, insinuations and misrepresentations turn souls away from truth and keep them from receiving reproof, putting them on a track where they cannot be at peace with brethren and selling their hold for a morsel of human sympathy and praise. Those who plant the evil seed are accountable for souls thus imperiled that they cannot restore, and God alone looks beneath the surface to measure the spirit and will call them to account.

Letting the root grow gives the adversary victories and spreads defilement to many through cherished unjust, false and cruel thoughts against others. Once this wrong course is entered it gathers like diseased matter until it bursts out again, becoming very hard to correct, hard to turn the current of thought, and hard to cleanse the stream and make bitter water sweet. The evil must be exposed and its deceptive hold broken or it will keep gathering until incurable.

The root is planted by one person controlled by evil power who mingles small doses of poison with truth and draws sympathies to himself, and it will spring up and bear fruit by which many are defiled. This succeeds because humanity naturally inclines to the wrong and more easily chooses evil without reasoning from cause to effect, so one can tear down faster than ten can build up. Therefore no place is to be given to such a one, not for a moment, and those who bid him Godspeed and enlarge his usefulness partake of his evil deeds and bear responsibility for the results unless he becomes a converted man.

Diligent Watch and Remedy

Looking diligently means turning the eyes inward to close searching of one's own motives, character, feelings, actions, words, and the spirit prompting them, testing feelings and motives by the law of God as the only standard of right. It requires scanning and criticizing one's own character and emptying the heart of love of self, envy, evil surmising and suspicion, jealousy, malice, unkindness, and self-esteem, and standing as sentinels over defects while seeking to be softened, subdued, elevated, ennobled, and to develop grace in the life. It forbids turning the eyes outward to watch lest others' characters should be right, and forbids exalting self, censuring and judging brethren, climbing upon the judgment seat to pronounce sentence, rising in strong feeling under contradiction or difference of ideas, and taking a work God has not given out of His hands. Leaving this inward work undone while keeping outward belief and profession apparently right leaves the heart wrong, controlled by self and another spirit, without underlying godliness based on Christ, and causes all difficulties in the church; done rightly it leads to esteeming others better than self and to carrying the spirit and teachings of Christ into everyday life with intelligent knowledge of the Scriptures so the lame are healed rather than turned out of the way.

The root must be taken hold of, dug out, and destroyed entirely, every fiber, at once and beginning at once, by thorough confession, heart-searching, repentance, conversion, reconversion, and ceasing fault-finding. Covering sin, suppressing signs, cutting back outward growth, partial concessions, or plucking only the tip leaves it alive to spring into life again when least expected and to flourish wonderfully and bear the same harvest again, while genuine restoration reaches hidden causes under searching judgment in God's presence. Looking diligently therefore means destroying the root by studying the word of God with purpose not to confirm own ideas but to have them trimmed to be condemned or approved as they are or are not in harmony with it, keeping the Bible as constant companion and studying correction without picking sentences to strengthen assertions while disregarding plain reproof. When by such thorough work the root is destroyed there is seeing light in God's light and souls are cleared, but without it souls are never cleared; a large, deep, thorough work still needs to be done, and the nearness of the end and the work expected make immediate removal urgent.

When sin is removed through the blood of sprinkling the soul is melted by the love of Jesus and by abhorrence of sin, and the heart is cleansed because wrongdoing is the overflowing of the fountain of an unclean, unconverted heart. The eyes of the mind are enlightened by the Holy Spirit to discern between good and evil, and those who once knew the truth but have backslidden from their first love return, reform, and regenerate. Christ Himself kills the root in every heart by His Holy Spirit so that it never buds nor blossoms again, every fiber put away entirely, which belongs with believing sins forgiven and making wrongs right even at the eleventh hour. This opens joy, praise with heart and soul and voice now, and glorious triumph when captivity is turned and mourning and tears are forever past.

Dissatisfaction, grievances, and disunion must be removed at the first and before taking root, by going directly to the one thought to have erred, speaking plainly and frankly in Christian love, clearing away rubbish, healing old wounds, humbling the soul, conquering pride, clearing the highway, confessing hasty harsh words instead of vindicating them, forgiving, and following the Saviour's rule for reconciliation with every possible effort to effect harmony. Brooding over, resenting, and nursing supposed wrongs, cultivating grievance with an unforgiving spirit, and voicing complaints to others gives the enemy control and works toward ruin, while frank speech in love prevents much evil, destroys roots, unites followers more closely, heals minds, spirits, and souls by grace, and makes the preached Word tenfold more precious so the lame are healed rather than turned out of the way. Those appointed to guard spiritual interests must set a right example by giving no occasion for envy, jealousy, suspicion, animosity and unkindness, ever manifesting the same love, respect, and courtesy they desire to encourage, checking and removing every bitter root; and if parties stubbornly persist in remaining at variance they should be suspended till they can harmonize. A surface response to truth is not enough, for cherished resentment, false thoughts, envy, and evil suspicion can revive when temptation comes unless daily faith working by love purifies the soul for deep change.

Keeping watch requires holding to Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, receiving all virtue and light from Him as the Source, letting that light shine before the world instead of hiding it, and thereby being elevated, ennobled, and brought to work in His lines as laborers together with God. It is learned through depending constantly on the sufficiency of Christ with inward witness from actual experience that He is all-sufficient, faithful, and powerful, opening the door for Jesus to come in and abide with strength constantly reinforced by His actual representative the Holy Spirit. It means merging a firm, determined, stubborn human will into the will of God, listening to the counsel of brethren instead of setting one's will against theirs, receiving the softening, subduing influence of the Spirit, and considering near the great day of God the influence of words and actions upon others so as not to imperil the cause by stubbornness. In place of cultivating defects such as pride, vanity, and selfishness, believers are to have the mind of Christ, inhale the atmosphere of heaven that always surrounds Him, and drink of Him, receiving healthfulness, fragrance, and healing virtues that refresh themselves and others and turn barren souls fruitful; and the love of God pervading the soul with Christ dwelling in the heart softens and subdues it by love for God and man so that fretting, fault-finding and contention do not exist there and complete victory over passions seeking mastery brings forth righteous fruit.

Prevention means watching over self and one another not to criticize, suspect, and distrust but to keep love alive, helping and strengthening one another without self-exaltation, accusation, or harshness, and purifying self through love and obedience to the truth. Love is a tender plant that must be cultivated and cherished with room to grow to bring mind and heart under its influence to love God supremely and neighbor as self, and failure here is daily breaking of the commands to love as brethren, be pitiful, and be courteous, kept by only about one in a thousand, forfeiting richest blessings. It requires laboring together in harmony under Christ and fitting together in kindly, courteous, brotherly order, making straight paths to heal rather than turn aside the lame, joined to following peace with all and holiness; this forbids separate parties, murmuring and fretting, wanting one's own way, molding fellow laborers to one's own ideas, setting self up as criterion, speaking disrespectfully of a fellow worker, unkind criticism, and pulling to pieces another's work. It requires keeping individuality while working in perfect unity, preferring one another in honor, respecting, loving and encouraging fellow workers, doing nothing through strife or vainglory but in lowliness esteeming others better than self, refusing to use abilities to tear down the influence of those God has chosen, keeping quiet unless able to speak in patience, kindness, and tenderness to win minds to God, separating from the tempter and clinging to the Lord.

Warnings for Church Life

Secretly cherishing and nurturing bitterness and dissension troubles and defiles others and brings God's frown and displeasure upon the cherisher. Such a spirit, shown in lifting the soul unto vanity and speaking perverse things, is unlike the Spirit of Christ and darkens the soul. Those who hold it are not fit vessels unto honor to receive the glory of God in the latter rain, nor prepared to receive the light of the angel sent to lighten the earth with his glory. This includes the bitterness brought from the conference at Minneapolis, which fails to make straight paths for the lame and halting in faith who surround the church.

Ministers and stewards of grace in any line of service must look diligently over their course of action lest any fail of the grace of God, for the root of bitterness means any kind of evil. They must not mingle the common with the sacred nor move heedlessly forward to start a train of circumstances leading to evils they cannot control. For a grain of thought thrown into humanity is kept alive by Satan until the root springs up to trouble and defile many, and the result is charged to those who caused it, whereas influence bearing heaven's approval bears good fruit. Words or thoughts inspired by Satan, such as political remarks by persons in responsible positions, can plant such thoughts and set harmful consequences in motion.

Bitterness must be removed before it troubles the church and defiles many, for once sprung up it weakens God's army and strengthens the enemy by enlisting professed Christians in Satan's work to root out love and plant hatred. It destroys oneness with Christ and one another, holds back the blessing of God, nearly leavens the whole church, keeps it small and weak, and makes the labor of faithful workers doubly hard. Its forms include envy, distrust, jealousy, hatred put in the heart by Satan, fierce overbearing critical denouncing talk, talebearing, slander, false witness, sharp personal attacks, close watching to find faults of brethren while neglecting purification of one's own heart, and raids upon brethren offered as religious zeal with which Christ has no part. It also includes unbelief and opposition to the pillars of faith, questioning established truth, spreading false reports, creating suspicion and doubt, discouraging and scattering believers, hindering worship and freedom, and spreading from one church to others, and the root is old and takes time to eradicate.

Those appointed to guard the spiritual interests of the church must therefore set a right example of love, respect, courtesy, and kindness, giving no occasion for envy, jealousy, suspicion, animosity and unkindness, checking every bitter root, refusing to use abilities to tear down those God has chosen, and keeping quiet unless they can speak in patience, kindness and tenderness to win minds to God. When trouble arises between brethren strict following of the Saviour's rule for reconciliation is required with every possible effort to effect harmony, and if parties stubbornly persist in variance they should be suspended till they can harmonize. The root must be taken hold of and dealt with according to Bible rule, by speaking at the right time when God lays on the burden without hesitation whether men hear or forbear and pressing the matter through even if some are left outside the church and outside the truth, with those who do not repent and reform separated from the church, for God will not bless the church while it is left lax and loose and truth will triumph. Worship must be carried forward with an eye single to God's glory, each member with jealous care for his own soul watching his own actions closely lest he act from selfish motives, letting God train and discipline him as he learns of Christ, lest weak brethren be made to stumble and God be displeased.

The warning applies in homes, schools, and neighborhoods, where little unhappy differences in the family circle and in the church must be settled by those involved before they grow into a bitter root that contaminates many. Such differences grow when self reigns instead of Christ, producing self-will, self-interest, envy, pride, vanity, love of power or gain, fretting, censure, complaining, fault-finding, variance and contention, with unchristian hearts imagining great wrongs where none exist and dwelling on little matters until they appear greatly magnified, including school-ground grievances and false accusations voiced contrary to God's Word. The seed of harmful influence should be diligently uprooted and counteracted before it spreads and bears its destructive fruit. Parents are to teach children by example and instruction to love, respect, and treat one another with kindness and tenderness, and not to nurture suspicion or speak words that strengthen it, nor to dwell on others' faults.

Envy, jealousy, evil surmising, evil speaking, impatience, prejudice, selfishness, covetousness, and vanity are poisonous roots planted by Satan in the heart that must be uprooted from the garden of the heart while every good principle is nourished until it thrives. Love is a plant that will die unless cherished, and peace, harmony, affection, and happiness must be perseveringly cultivated every day in the home as the center of the purest and most elevated affection, with the beams of the Sun of Righteousness let into the soul temple. If evil traits remain they will bear fruit that defiles many others and kills out love and defiles the soul, and public profession of love to God while neglecting this weeding shows ignorance of Jesus and unfits for eternal bliss where only the true, pure, and obedient will meet to part no more. Even one root must not be cherished, especially dwelling on imperfections of those who carry on God's work and talking about diseased souls and uncomely character, instead of seeing how many serve God, resist temptation, and are transformed to Christlike character as partakers of the divine nature.

The verse commands diligent watchfulness so no one comes short of grace and no root grows to trouble and defile many, joined to making straight paths for the feet and following peace with all and holiness, as remedy for mental and moral disorder and for a haughty spirit unwilling to sacrifice its own way even for the soul Christ died for, whose cure is dying to self. It calls for purification by taking the root out at once, for a large deep thorough work still needs to be done and the nearness of the end and the work God expects make immediate removal urgent. The dangerous root is selfishness, and even one fiber left will spring up when least expected and corrupt many, dividing people and exposed in unkind discourteous disrespectful words and actions, so full surrender removing every portion of selfishness is required with faith and love toward God and one another, learned like Mary at Jesus' feet and worked like Martha abounding in the Lord's work, reached only by much prayer and devotion of hands, heart and whole being. Bitterness must be rooted out of the church and replaced with sanctified zeal for saving souls ready to perish.

Diligent heed that reaches the heart brings softening and subduing by the Holy Spirit, moving those desiring prayer to rise for it, moving backslidden unhappy troubled ones to return to truth, and moving those receiving light to testify with gratitude. Self-control, taking in the words of life, and following Christ the great Example remove selfishness as a root defiling many and hindering God's work. Followers must make straight paths so the weak are not turned aside, pursue holiness under Christ's meek and lowly direction, and work out salvation with fear and trembling as God works in them to will and act according to His good pleasure. A person's example can cause roots to spring up in others, so keeping the soul in God's love prevents becoming a hindrance, whereas leading into strange paths fosters bitterness that must be cast out and not cherished.

What is dwelt on shapes character, for beholding evil changes beholders into its image, while opening the heart to what is true, lovely, and of good report and letting in the Sun of Righteousness keeps the heart clean. The heart is the root and fountain and words and deeds are its fruit and streams, so a changed heart produces truthful words and just actions, while an unchanged heart is exposed in speech and conduct despite a show of righteousness. Admitting Christ's grace purifies thought, regulates desire, and sweetens disposition, while allowing natural passions to control leads to harmful words and actions, so the heart must be guarded against cherishing bitterness until it takes root. Imperfections and wrongdoing among professed Christians, and unfavorable revelations of human weakness, should not lead to discouragement or fixation on faults but to looking to God's transforming power and trusting Him rather than man, never making flesh an arm.

Specific cases show the danger, for careful watchfulness is required lest any fall short of grace, and neglecting young believers or sowing doubt and unbelief can ruin souls. Wrongdoing by one spreads defilement to many, so improper conversation and lawless conduct must not contaminate rooms dedicated to God, with strengthening of weak hands and knees, making straight paths so the lame is healed rather than turned aside, and pursuing peace and holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Unkindness, contempt, coldness, and unfeeling decisions can turn souls away from refuge in Jesus and contribute to ruin, so leaders must strengthen the weak and help them stay on the right path. Prejudice and hatred are a root to be cleansed from the soul, and entertaining harmful suggestions, reports, accusations, and suspicions instead of guarding brethren's interests troubles believers and defiles many. Withstanding correction plants bitterness against servants carrying disagreeable burdens, and hatred persisting despite warning imperils positions, as does flattery supporting a self-exalting person who draws away from the church.