day no. 15,564: radix-ulous

Recently, I discovered that the word radical has its etymology in the Latin word radix which means, "root." 

When we use the word radical, we are typically referring to someone or something that is way out on a limb, breaking free from all convention and stepping out into some new, extreme endeavor, but the word actually implies someone or something drilled down relentlessly to the root of the matter and refusing to abandon first principles.

In other words, in the modern sense of the word, we assume tip-toeing on tree branches is exciting and extreme; but in reality, sticking with tradition requires extremity. There is nothing radical then about hanging your life out on a limb. That is normative, a yawn-fest, a standard operating procedure common to all men. But what is radical is turning back to the roots and finding life there, defining livelihood by the deep, nourishing, anchored stability of what lies beneath the surface. Now that would be radical. Can you imagine a generation so bold as to refuse to insist upon their unique perspective for the sake of resting on the foundation of their fathers? Crazy, right? Downright, one might say, radical.

Matthew 3:10
And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

True repentance begins at the root of the matter. The fruit tattles on the root and if the fruit is rotten and sickly sweet, the problem is at the root level. Getting radical means getting to the root of the matter, which means repenting not merely of rotten fruit, but of rotten roots.