Rooted for Growth

Roots are the unseen growth markers for any living thing.  Without roots, a plant will die.  The problem is that we can’t see the roots.  They grow underground for most plants. However, they influence the above-ground growth we can see.

The same is true in our Christian lives.  Spiritual roots grow love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23) Not just one of these characteristics.  All of them.

The prayer that takes me to rooted growth is this one:

Pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power . . .

to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.

Ephesians 3:17

To be rooted in God is to never let the core of your life grow from anywhere else.  To be rooted in God is to know that all nourishment comes first from God and God alone.  Not from success.  Not from productivity.  Not from acceptance.  Not from control. Not even from family.  From God.

Without roots, there is no power to grow.  We can’t sustain it.  Then we substitute trying harder for "trust".  This stunts our growth instead of encouraging it.  

But how do we grow what we cannot see?  How do we make sure that “good works” come from our roots and not from pleasing ourselves?

Rooting happens as we let God’s truth replace anything we thought was truer than what God says, especially about we are to Him.  We are His beloved, His treasure, His favorite.

When we let God’s love go down deep into our wounded psyche, our broken spirit, our questions about whether we are good enough, something new grows. A possibility.  A hope.  A belief that we can be who God always knew we could be, and we let God grow us.  We let His mirror reveal His truth and help us put away anything we have used to understand our worth and our identity.

That’s the difference between growing simply by self-help and growing by God’s love. God’s love is pure, compassionate, need-meeting, healing, protective, and growth-producing.  We are rooted in God’s love. His love is our best soil and fertilizer. What grows from His love is always better than anything that grows simply from trying harder.  And it lasts longer, too. 

Without roots, we won’t be able to understand God’s unfailing love for us, His always reaching wide and deep love, His never-failing, eternal, and limitless love. 

Pray for roots.  Shortchange ourselves here, and we won’t experience what happens when a plant’s roots don’t support or grow deeper.  We won’t wither, and topple.

But look at what waits if we do.   We grow a deep awareness of a love no one else can give us—perfect love, unfailing love, eternal love. 

As we take this soul-cleaning journey to the cross, we need to spend time thinking about our spiritual roots.  Are we taking in enough nutrients from God’s Word to grow them? 

Let Paul’s prayer to the Ephesians be the prayer we pray for ourselves this week and find

out what grows when we do.

 I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,

 may have power, together with all the saints,

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 3:17-19