Rooted

If a tree is to flourish, it has to be healthy.

If a tree is to be healthy, it must receive all nutrients and water that it needs.

If a tree is to get what it needs, it must be rooted deeply into the soil.

There is no shortcut in the way trees grow and thrive. It is only by the roots in which it is able to do so. It may be able to survive a while simply from the moisture within the bark and the sunlight soaked in by the leaves. But, it will not be healthy and it is guaranteed to die. There is no substitution for the work that the roots do and the way in which they are able to give the tree exactly what it needs.

This very same concept applies to my relationship with God, to everyone’s relationship with the God. If my heart is rooted in anything other than Christ, the rest of me suffers. If my heart isn’t good soil in which the Gospel can take root, then the rest of my body weakens.

As humans, we often try to find things that give us life. We look to money, relationships, traveling, education, and so many other things that are fallible and finite. We try to find out who we are and what our purpose is by rooting ourselves in the things we think matter the most. But, we always come up thirsty, brittle, and hollow.

Romans 11:16 says, “Now if the first fruits offered up are holy, so is the whole batch. And if the root is holy, so are the branches.”

The very root of who we are, our souls, cannot be nourished by the things of this world.

If we want life, we have to be rooted in the One who gives life. If we want to be satisfied, we have to be rooted in the only One capable of satisfying us. Our hearts, our souls, must be rooted in Christ who tells us specifically that He is, “the way, the truth, and the life…” (John 14:6). Only when we become rooted in Him will we find that we flourish and grow. Only then will we truly know what it means to be healthy. If we want life, we need Christ.