WHERE’RE YOU ROOTED?
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper” (Psalm 1:1-3).
I believe every person on planet earth, saved and unsaved alike, has a desire to succeed in their lives. Nobody purposely sets out to fail in anything they put their hands to. But, multitudes have no clue how to truly succeed in life. They flounder around accepting whatever comes their way as their ‘lot in life’, or their ‘karma’, or whatever term they use—it’s all the same; they deal with life as it comes, instead of living purposely. We’ve all heard it said “I believe things happen for a reason.” – Which implies things just come around for some mystical reason that we have no control over. Yet the same folk will go into their backyard with a tomato seed, plant it in the ground, and expect a tomato plant to grow. Why should we expect the law of sowing and reaping to work in one area, but not in any other?
THE WORLD AROUND US–OUR MISSION FIELD
So, what does this have to do with ‘where we are rooted’? I’m glad you asked! Jesus said He was the vine and we are the branches (John 15:5). Let’s say it like this: Jesus is the ‘plant’, He’s the ‘tree’ (or, as He said ‘vine’); those of us who are born-again are in Him, that makes us the branches—the extension of Him to the world around us. Our lives are to be bearing fruit for them (the world) to partake of; like we do when we eat the grapes that are produced from the grapevine. The difference is our ‘fruit’ is spiritual – “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). Yet, I have to say that, beyond the character of God these fruit exhibit, additional ‘fruit’ we should be displaying are the manifestations of the Spirit as well:
- “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit” (1Corinthians 12:7-13, underline mine for emphasis).
The point I’m making here is we are the Body of Christ (the anointed One, and His anointing); Jesus “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38); and He’s “the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). So, since He hasn’t changed – at all – we should be daily doing His same works, for “as He is, so are we in this world” (1John 4:17). Since He cast out devils, we should be casting out devils; since He healed the sick, we should present His healing power to those who are sick around us, and so on. The Power of God is a sign to the world that we serve the One true God Who truly loves them! This is our Great Commission.
ROOTS CONNECT US
Psalm One depicts an individual who does not conduct their lives by ungodly counsel; they do not hang out with sinful people (“Bad companions make a good person bad”—1Corinthians 15:33, NIrV); “nor sits in the seat of the scornful” – synonyms for ‘scornful’ are: disrespectful, mocking, contemptuous, disdainful, and sneering. A Mike Leach rendering would be this person does not sit in a seat of judging others with disrespect, or sneering (since love believes the best of every person—1Corinthians 13:7, AMP).
Now, let’s get to the good stuff; the things that make this person a success in life: “But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.” The law of the Lord is the Word of God. So, we could say it like this—this individual meditates (thinks about, ponders by talking to themselves) God’s Word every day – all day! That’s what Jehovah told Joshua to do when he was about to take over for Moses, who had just passed the baton to him and departed this planet to be with God:
- “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:8-9).
Jeremiah says much the same thing as Psalm One:
- “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit” (Jeremiah 17:7-8).
I like that! This trusting individual will not be anxious about anything! They will be productive (another way of saying successful) their entire life! Did you notice the term ‘roots’? This is the same as saying ‘planted’. There is a lot that can be said about this ‘planting’ (or, the ‘root-system’ of an individual); because, where someone is planted, or rooted, determines the quality of life they have, or the type of fruit they bear. The roots are the avenue that nourishment comes into an individual – and that ‘nourishment’ determines what ‘fruit’ they will bear. There is a saying “garbage in – garbage out”. The cool thing is we can determine the fruit in our lives – we can be the masters of the quality of life we are living!
THE GOSPEL
This is the good news (gospel) we have been entrusted to proclaim to “all nations” – everybody we come in contact with! Man messed-up and fell away from God; God (Jesus) became a man to pay the penalty for that sin; now reconciliation is available for everybody (“whosoever will”), and we’ve become ambassadors of God to proclaim (tell) this great truth!
- “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12, KJV, underline mine for emphasis).
- “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19).
- “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God” (2Corinthians 5:18-20, underline mine for emphasis).
- “And He Himself (Jesus) is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1John 2:2, parenthesis mine, underline mine for emphasis).
These Scriptures spell-out the Gospel progression. Meditating on these things will produce the productive life we’ve been talking about. Let’s not be over-zealous, though, and turn people off! This is where sensitivity to our Lord comes in. This sensitivity comes through prayer – fellowship with Jesus and the Father, through communion with the Holy Spirit.
LIFE AND DEATH
I mentioned earlier the saying “garbage in – garbage out”; this speaks of what we ‘feed on’, or give our attention to. What we ‘feed on’ will establish our ‘fruit’. That’s right, just because we have called on the Name of the Lord to be saved, and now we are born-again doesn’t mean we will automatically live the successful—supernatural—life Jesus purchased for us to live. I’ll go a step further: just because we have been baptized in the Holy Spirit and have experienced speaking in other tongues, doesn’t mean we automatically flow in the gifts of the Spirit. We all have choices to make every day to operate in these things.
- “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19).
Life and death; blessing and cursing, these are choices we all have to make – every day. Let’s say it like this: success or failure is ours to choose every day. The ‘fruit’ we enjoy will be determined by where our roots lie, and the nourishment we receive through them. If we sit in front of the television and feed on soap-operas, then the ‘life-portrayal’ on and in them will become the lives we live (experience). The same goes with social media – if we get on the Internet and feed on junk being ‘preached’ through these avenues, then their junk will be our life-style. Oh yea, what one sees gets down in their heart, and out of the abundance of the heart one brings forth their life. That’s why Proverbs says to guard our heart with all diligence, “for out of it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23, AMP); other versions say “issues of life”. In other words, the very life we live comes from what’s inside us. This is why it’s so important to be rooted in the Word of God; and to be careful of our close associations, because we’ll imitate each other.
Good roots will be found in 1) the church one goes to (that’s extremely important!); 2) the people we hang-out with; and 3) the things we ‘feed on’ – television/movies we watch, Internet sites we frequently visit [I hope you all come here often! – that’s why I write and publish these things!], books we read – the Bible should be number one! We could go on, but I think you get the picture.
Here’s a prayer, recorded in Ephesians (I’ve also included in the “Praying Scripture” section), that was written by inspiration of the Holy Spirit:
- “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant me, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in my heart through faith; that I, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that I may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that I ask or think, according to the power that works in me, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Eph 3:14-21, personalized).
Did you catch that: “rooted and grounded in love” – “filled with all the fullness of God”? That’s the greatest ‘root-system’ any of us can have! Talk about successful! – Love never fails!!