“All things must come to the soul from its roots, from where it is planted. The tree that is beside the running water is fresher and gives more fruit.” ~ Saint Teresa of Avila
The Greek word often used for [root] in the New Testament means this: to render firm, to fix, establish, cause a person or a thing to be thoroughly grounded. Our roots are important. The fruit of our lives is a direct result of what they are rooted upon. When a plant has been uprooted, if it is not relocated in nutrient dense soil, it will wither and die. This is true in both the natural world and the spiritual realm. Being established and grounded is a necessary condition for Kingdom fruit to be life-giving.
I have been uprooted several times in my life. Some by my own doing. Some not. It has been a painful journey. However today, I am reminded of two characters in the Bible that knew all about being uprooted and replanted so as to be grounded and flourishing in their purpose: Abraham and David.
In both instances, these two Patriarchs of our faith were simply on a journey to be fixed or established in the place in which God had called them. Abraham is fascinating to me. He didn’t have the luxury of knowing God’s faithfulness through reading the scriptures like we do. He heard the Lord’s voice and obeyed. God called him away from everything he knew so that he might be established in a land that was unfamiliar. It was through Abraham’s family that the nation of Israel would be formed and ultimately rooted in the Promise Land.
David was anointed as King early in his life. However, the circumstances of his reign were anything but smooth. It seems as though jealousy uprooted him from his family when he defeated Goliath. King Saul brought him into the palace only to chase him out when he saw the way David was favored of the Lord. Even his own son displaced him for a short while before David came to his senses and regained the throne.
Neither of these men were perfect. Abraham took matters into his own hands through the advice of Sarah and almost uprooted the fulfillment of the promise that God wanted to bring about through his life.
David’s sin, no doubt, brought such deep shame into his soul that it affected his confidence to be Israel’s established King. He had masterfully out-maneuvered Saul by submitting to God’s ways. But, when his son tried to usurp his authority–he ran. Why? The only answer I can come up with is shame over Bathsheba. That’s what shame does. It causes us to run from God and doubt his purposes for us.
Do you know why these two men were not uprooted from the promises that God had given? It was not because of their ability in themselves to overcome, although they did have to fight to overcome. It was not the fact that they were more skilled than others, although they both had to appropriate God’s wisdom in their respective situations. It was because the plan of God was bigger than the men chosen to implement the plan. And, it was assuredly the mercy of God that established them in their secure positions.
Both men were known for their sincere obedience to God. Obedience signifies something. It signifies trust, faith, and love. Paul knew this to be true. He also knew that obedience is an internal work within the heart. “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 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.” (Ephesians 3:16-19 NIV)
When I read this description of the love of Christ, I can’t help but visualize a magnificent tree with deep roots, branches so high that they block out the sky, and brightly colored fruit nestled in dense emerald colored leaves. A tree that is deeply established and rooted–that cannot be moved. That is what the love of Jesus does for us. It establishes us as belonging to the Father when we do not seem to belong anywhere else. It roots us, fixes us, in the plan and purposes of the Kingdom. It strengthens us in our inner being so that we have faith along the journey to apprehending the promises that Father has given.
Listen, the processes that any tree undergoes in order to have a strong root system seems brutally harsh in different seasons. But, once the roots are fixed and firm, the fruit is sweet and nutrient.
Let me close with this–check your root system. The only eternal fruit that will last is what is rooted in the love of Christ. If that is what you are fixed upon–his promises to you will be established!
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