ROOTED

Therefore as you 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 – Colossians 2:6-7

The Ordered Life is a ROOTED Life – “rooted and built up” in Christ (Col.2:7). Here is a mixture of metaphors. Being rooted is the agricultural metaphor that refers to a tree. Being built up is a structural metaphor that refers to a building. Both illustrate our life in Christ. Though hidden from view, the root is a uniquely vital part of a plant or a tree, whose function is to provide depth, strength, and stability. The root is to the tree what the foundation is to a building. The deeper the root, the stronger and more stable the plant is likely to be. Root to a large extent determines fruits. Isaiah 37:31 says, “And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.” However, how you take root is also a function of where you are planted: “Those who are planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God” (Psa.92:13).

The ideas set forth in this text are stability and growth: rooted in Jesus – established, immoveable, stable, and growing. Since believers are rooted in Christ there is no possibility of eradication of life, except if one self-destructs. People could be planted and rooted in various other kinds of ‘soil’ such as in academics, arts, business, commerce, politics, sports, medicine, and ministry. These may be good soils, but they are not the best. There is no better place to be planted and rooted than in Christ! Why? Because there is no guarantee of permanence when one is rooted in any of these other mundane spheres. Economic, financial, political or other status can be lost. Some stars of yesterday are in dunghills today. But in Christ there is no possibility of being uprooted. In Him we live and move and have our being. To destroy the life of a Christian it would be necessary for the devil to destroy Him in whom we are rooted. The question is – Am I rooted – firmly rooted – in Christ?

To be firmly rooted in Christ, you must first be planted in Him; you must have a relationship with Him: “as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord” (Col.2:6). Receiving Christ Jesus as Lord of your life is the beginning of Life in Christ. Being rooted in Christ is synonymous with spiritual growth, which progresses from knowing you are a Christian to knowing God personally and intimately. No matter where we are: a child in the faith, a teenager or young man or an adult, God calls us to spiritual maturity. Spiritual growth is essential to the life of a Christian, just as physical growth is essential to the life of a child. It is in Him that you’ll find Salvation, Security, and Spiritual Growth. This is the guarantee of the Ordered Life.

Being rooted in Christ must be followed by being built up and walking in Him. The term “walk” refers to living. It is a metaphor for living life. The reception of Christ in the heart precedes holy living: the outer life demonstrates the inner life. The ability to walk right is the result of Christ in the Christian. A call to be rooted in Christ summons us to live a lifestyle worthy of the Lord. It is a call for believers to live a life which is consistent to what they have believed. If we say that we have received Jesus Christ, then we must show it by the way we live. Ephesians 3:17 says: “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love” (Eph.3:17).

Your depth of your root in Christ determines your heights in destiny. Even in barren soil, the palm tree is watered deep at the roots! May you flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon (Psa.92:12). May you “be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither” (Psa.1:3). As you’ve been planted in the house of the LORD, may you be rooted deeper and deeper, to flourish in the courts of your God, in Jesus name!