Rooted and built up. Colossians 2:7
What can horticulture and architecture teach us about our faith? Be one who is rooted! Be one who is built up! These are intentional metaphors our Lord gave through the writing of the apostle Paul – given for the growth of our faith.
“Rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” (Colossians 2:7)
Be one who is rooted.
This horticultural reference emphasizes spiritual vitality. Just as the tree depends upon the nourishment of the root system, our vitality of life comes from faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus represents the life (real and abundant life – life that far transcends anything you could make of yourself or do on your own). The Holy Spirit becomes the spiritual sap present within the system of the tree. As your faith grows in Jesus, so your life grows in vitality. Your spirit is regenerated by the Holy Spirit. This regeneration affects your soul (your mind, will, and emotions). And, thus your body (your actions, relationships, and the physical demonstration of “you”) becomes aligned with the Holy Spirit. By this, your life becomes built up in Jesus. So, be one who lives rooted. How?
Make your faith in Jesus a priority every day, every moment, and every breath. This “lifestyle” priority becomes practically manifested as you join Paul in his divinely inspired self-assessment of the new life:
“It is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
This indicates that every thought, emotion, attitude, conversation, dream, and aspiration must come by way of the standard of Jesus Himself. All that expresses your daily existence now has the beautiful, fulfilling and secure parameter of all things determined by that which honors Christ our Lord.
If your faith is in Jesus Christ, you are rooted in Him. Live as one divinely rooted.
Be one who is built up.
Now, notice that Paul stated in the above verse that the call is to “be strengthened in faith as you were taught.” “Rooted” represents past tense, indicating one’s salvation experience, or one’s regeneration by the Holy Spirit. “Built up” represents a present tense, indicating that as you are rooted, so you are presently being built up. From a horticultural term of “having been rooted,” to an architectural imagery, “being built up,” the Christian life flourishes in spiritual vitality as we learn to grow in knowledge of and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Being built up. Paul once defined spiritual growth as “forgetting what is behind, and pressing forward to the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). What does this “pressing forward” look like in our lives? This reflects the actual hunger and pursuit of knowing Jesus better every day through prayer, the Scriptures, and Christian fellowship. In this way our growth comes by way of God’s Holy Spirit in our lives. This is spiritual growth (being built up) from the initial spiritual life (having been rooted in Him).
Why is the rootedness and the ongoing “building up” of our faith such a vital conversation for this moment? Other than the ongoing urgency to live by faith and not by the present world’s system, there exists a new urgency. Most generations of the church know hardships. Many present churches are under persecution around the globe. But at this moment here in our safe little world, there are urgencies emerging every day.
Concerns of vulnerability with a global pandemic remain at the forefront of most of our thoughts. Increased unknowns and uncertainties seem to prevail in the headlines. And safety seems to be questionable as violence has made an appearance close to home in ways unsettling and unfamiliar to most. So, in such times as these, how vital it becomes to consider the establishment of our faith. For this reason, I reference a quote from the great preacher many years ago, Charles Spurgeon, who observed a truth then that has meaningful application for this very moment.
Spurgeon commented, “We cannot be established except by suffering. It is of no use our hoping that we shall be well-rooted if no March winds have passed over us. The young oak cannot be expected to strike its roots so deep as the old one. The old gnarled roots, and those strange twisting of the branches, all tell of many storms that have swept over the aged tree. But they are also indicators of the depths into which the roots have dived.”
Today, as you consider all the negative that greets you each morning, accept the grand opportunity to live established under the wind of opposition. And, if these present days have left some negative mark on your life or in your memory, remember that opposition can prove how well the tree is rooted. So, you are indeed rooted if your faith is in Jesus. Live as such. Continue to be built up in your faith. And, let the wind blow. Because you are strong in Christ.
Blessings.
