Rooted in Christ
- John Huggins
- Feb 22
- 2 min read
"Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith..." - Colossians 2:7
VIDEO AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE
What it means to be "rooted in Christ" is essentially that He becomes our life. Paul goes on in this same book to say that we are dead and that our life is hid with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). A plant will die if it is not connected to the roots.
I am no botanist and I didn't pay too much attention in school, but I know that roots serve at least 2 major functions: supply and strength.
Christ, our supply
The first application I'd like to make is that Jesus is, to the believer, the supplier of all that we need. "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19) He is the source of our life as Paul says in Acts 17:28, "for in him we live, and move, and have our being."
A few distinctions should be made.
First, Christ supplies our NEED and not our carnal WANTS. He provides what is truly best and not always what seems enjoyable. The roots of a plant sense the needs of the plant and provides for that need. It is not always a constant supply of EVERY nutrient that it has but the EXACT nutrient that it needs. We can trust Jesus to be wise to know our situation and individual needs and the grace to provide exactly what is best.
Second, Christ is a storehouse in times of drought. Roots store nutrients, minerals, and water in themselves so that, when the soil fails to provide what the plant needs, the roots supply what is lacking. In seasons of distress and hardship we know that Christ's supply will remain constant and all-sufficient.
Christ, our strength
In a different analogy Jesus compares us to either a wise or a foolish man who chose different foundations to build on. The wise man chose a foundation of stone and the foolish man built on the sand. The hardships both of these houses endured were the same: "the rains descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house..." (Matthew 7:25, 27) The end results were that the house built upon the sand fell and the other house stood. What's important here is how Jesus applies these principles. The foolish man is the one who hears the teachings of Christ and does nothing with them. The wise man takes the teachings of Christ to heart and applies them.
What this, as well as the principle of being rooted in Christ, teaches us is that Christ will sustain us through hardship both in the sense of providing internal nutrients as well as external strength. The deeper the roots the more the tree can withstand. If we are to endure the hardships of living in a fallen and vain society then we MUST draw strength from HIM and not us.
So... are you rooted in Him? Is He your strength and supply or are you still looking to yourself or to this world to save you? He alone can satisfy the needs that you have.
Look to Jesus.
Be rooted.
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