Be Grounded

There is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its tender shoots will not cease. Though its root may grow old in the earth, and its stump may die in the ground, yet at the scent of water it will bud and bring forth branches like a plant.

Job 14:7-9

In 2004, researchers in Sweden found the oldest known living plant on earth, a thirteen-foot-tall Norway spruce. The visible part of the tree—the part above ground—is about six hundred years old, but the tree’s roots predate Abraham. Whenever a stem or trunk dies, a new one emerges from the root stock, and that’s what gives the tree its incredible longevity.

The Bible says we’re like trees “planted by the waters” that spread our roots by the river (Jeremiah 17:8). We are told to be “rooted and grounded in love” (Ephesians 3:17) and “rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith” (Colossians 2:7). Jesus warned of the danger of springing up quickly but, having no roots, withering away (Matthew 13:6).

Personal Bible study is the best way to sink your roots deeply into the faith. At the beginning of this new year, make up your mind to read and meditate on God’s Word daily. You’ll be “like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season” (Psalm 1:3).

As a tree by the waters grows, in spite of drought all around it, so I, by drawing upon the life of Christ, grow into His strength.

W. PHILLIP KELLER