Rooted

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.Col. 2:6-7

The health and development of a tree depends on its capacity to receive all it needs from its root system. The tree must be deeply rooted in its source of life to be all it can be. The quality of a tree depends on its roots and receptivity.

In the Christian life the disciple must be rooted deeply in Jesus to live and manifest the Christian life. The Christian life is 100% Jesus and only those rooted deeply in Him can live His life.

Author E. Stanley Jones who was a missionary in India for over 50 years speaks of a process the Japonese people developed to control the development of certain beautiful trees by limiting the normal receptivity of the tree’s taproot.

In the forest the trees grew tall. Because of their height the beautiful trees could not be used as decorative trees for home gardens. The Japonese farmers discovered they could limit the tree’s growth by tying off its taproot. Less receptivity meant less height.

Jones saw in this practice of tying off the taproot a perfect illustration of modern Christianity. He could see that the world had discovered how to tie off the taproot of Christians and domesticate them for the world’s use. Without deep roots in Jesus the Christians could never hope to attain the stature of Jesus.

To be an authentic manifestation of Jesus in our world there must be nothing that interferes with the taproot of our spirit going down deeply into the life of Jesus. We must be forever rooted deeply in all that Jesus is.

We were not born again and connected to Jesus to be decorative trees for the world’s gardens. We were born and rooted in Jesus by the Spirit to reach His beauty and height. We were born for the forest of liberty in Christ and not for the gardens of men.

 

Bud McCord

Abide International