Consider this portion of scripture with me today with a focus on “rooted and grounded.”
Eph 3: 14-19 “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established (grounded) in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Three key words to consider:
Rooted: to cause to strike root, to strengthen with roots, to render firm, to fix, establish, cause a person or a thing to be thoroughly grounded
Grounded: to lay the foundation, to found, to make stable, establish
Love: Rooted and grounded in “LOVE”, not grace, not mercy, not compassion, not wisdom, not truth, all of these are good, but it is Gods’ LOVE that we are to be rooted and grounded in.
The image here with rooted and grounded is two fold. Rooted having this image of a tree and grounded having this image of a house that is grounded on (built upon) a solid foundation. I can relate to both of these images having served with a team doing relief work after hurricane Katrina and building the foundation for my home. Today, I want to focus on the image of the tree for today.
There is one picture that I will never forget. While doing relief work with a team from church in Mississippi I was surprised to find these 100-foot tall trees blown over with the root system still attached. One would surely think that a mature tree of this size would have a well-established root system that ran deep and wide into the earth. To my amazement the root system of these mighty tall trees was actually very shallow. What appeared to be only a few feet deep? I remember the Holy Spirit speaking to me, as I looked this.
A tree that is well watered by rain does not need to send its roots deep. There is sufficient surface water at ground level to supply the trees need. The roots need not go any deeper in seeking water. This causes the tree roots to remain shallow, to grow just below the surface.
A tree that will experience a season of both rain and dry spells will develop a deeper root system. In the dry seasons the tree will send its roots down deeper seeking a water source. In part, the dry season can be a good season, as it will produce a deeper and wider root system in the ground. It is this deeper root system that will help the tree to withstand the storms that come. The tree may bend with the wind, loose a few branches but it will remain firmly planted. As I witnessed, the trees with shallow root systems are easily blown over, uprooted by the storms that come.
Are you drawing any conclusions yet? I sense that what happens in the natural can have a spiritual application. How important it is for the believer to have their roots (faith) firmly established in the love of God. To secure, to establish ones roots into the depth and width of Gods love.
“Gods love never fails, never runs out, never gives up on you”
My hope for you today my friends is to encourage you to grow your roots deeper. Yes grow them in the good rainy seasons but also allow those roots to grow deeper and wider in the dry season. I know it becomes a challenge in the “dry” seasons to seek God. I have been there. Yet there is something, the love of God that draws me, that bids me to come, to go deeper.
Keep looking, keep searching; keep going deeper seeking the love of God my friends. His love will keep you, hold you and sustain you in every season of your life. Being rooted in His love, you will be prepared to weather the storms, the challenges that will come in your life.
Job 1:19 “For I am like a tree whose roots reach the water, whose branches are refreshed with the dew.”
Psa 1:2-3 “But they delight in the law of the LORD, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither and they prosper in all they do.”
Jer 17:7-8 “But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green and they never stop producing fruit.”
Growing deeper in Gods love,
Pastor Jeff