Do you have weeds in your garden? Some are very tiny and the roots have not taken hold. Others have a large root system and are almost impossible to pull up without the ground being softened by rain. The large ones when pulled up leave a bare spot in the lawn or your garden. If all the roots are taken up the weeds die but, if some of the roots are left behind the weeds will spring up again.
The weeds are like the temptation to sin in our life. The sin starts out very tiny, maybe just a thought that is not acted upon. But if we do not kill that thought before it grows, soon it will become a large and it will be much harder to get rid of because that sin will be rooted deep into a hardened heart. In order to completely remove that sin, our heart must be softened by the Holy Spirit and then the roots must be removed when we ask Jesus to forgive our sins and cleanse us. If we do not for sake the sin in our life it is like that little weed that root was not completely removed and we can once again be caught up in that same sin.
1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
Center for Evangelists 