Tag: Root

Rooted in Christ

Lori fancies herself as somewhat of a green thumb. She has some plants in the backyard and throughout the house that she cares for to add some life to our home and property. She also plants tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers each spring. No matter the plant, she does not just get them and go on, she nurtures them with good soil, and food, and water and makes sure they have what they need to take root, and grow, and thrive. The LORD does the same with us once we have received Him.

“6Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” – Colossians 2:6-7 (ESV)

You see the LORD provided us with the place to put our roots, in Jesus. We have received Him into our lives, and all too often, we stop there. We look great now in Christ and are beautiful. We are have life and bring joy to others with our appearance. Yet, over time we will find ourselves withering a bit. We are in need of more, or are we.

It is not that we are in need of more, we just need to reach back into the good soil, and food, and water, and nutrients that the LORD has given to us, Jesus. We need to root ourselves in Jesus and His word. This is where we will grow and thrive. We will want for nothing else when we are fully dependent on Jesus. We are like the Christmas cactus, or the tomatoes, or the cucumbers, or the peppers, or the Texas Sage, we will show out with the fruit of the LORD at just the right moment when we are rooted in Jesus.

Lori painstakingly re-pots and nurtures the plants around our home to ensure they have what they need to thrive. The LORD does the same for us. He provided Jesus for us to root in and allow Him to feed us what we need to thrive. We are to be rooted in Christ and we will thrive for all to see.

Where are you rooting yourself? Are you one that has received and just expect all to work out? What if you rooted in Jesus knowing that He has all you need to thrive for all to see?

Sin is at the Root, God Knows and Solves

This morning I am reminded that at the root of all my issues is sin. Yes, that is right. Everything that is at odds in this world is a result of sin.

“12Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” – Romans 5:12 (ESV)

Remember how we got here. Adam and Eve fell for the lies of the evil one and did the one thing that God told them not to do. As a result of that doing, they and we were cursed to live lives full of sin. Until that first sin, things were to be just as God drew them up. Wonderful and lovely. Yet as a result the lovely and wonderful were put on hold.

But, God provided the way out, Jesus. You see, Jesus came to this world to provide the way for us to return fully to God as we were intended. We are His greatest creation and God wants us to return there. Jesus came to restore us by dealing with the root cause of our issues, sin. He came to take it on Himself so that we would be spared. He provided forgiveness for our sin.

“2And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.’” – Matthew 9:2 (ESV)

Jesus was in the mode of healing people during this time. He had been doing so and the people knew it so they brought Him another to heal. And Jesus surprised them all. He healed the root of the issue, sin. The surprise was that this was not really what they were looking for, they were hoping to have their friend walking away. But Jesus was there to solve the deeper problem, not just that which was on the surface.

Isn’t this what we should all be looking for in our lives, the solving of the root issue so that we can get on with things and not worry with the issue any longer? I know for me it is. I have plenty of issues in my life that are getting in the way of my just moving on, but to know that God has taken care of my deep rooted issue, sin, I know that I will be able to get through them. God blots out my sin and forgets it as gets to the healing of my soul.

“25I, I am he

who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,

and I will not remember your sins.”

— Isaiah 43:25 (ESV)

What a great thing. God forgives and forgets. I am a sinner, yes, but I am also forgiven of those sins. I am hard on myself for the sin, but God has forgotten them thanks to my salvation. God has gotten to the root of my issues and solved it so that I can move on to do that which He has for me, completing the tasks He has for me, bringing glory to Him, and celebrating my adoption into the family of God.

Where are you as relates to your issues in life? Are you still trying to solve those that are on the surface? What if you sought God and allowed Him to solve the root of them all, sin, by accepting Him as the only one who can forgive them?