Focus: Spiritual Roots

Text: Lk.8:13

"These have no root…"

The Lord's Parable of the Sower deals with four different soils: the good soil, the wayside soil, the thorny soil, and the stony or rocky soil. The soils speak of the different conditions of the human soul or heart. In this study, let us examine the stony or rocky soil.

The Lord Jesus Christ explains that "when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they HAD NO ROOT, they withered away" (Mt.13:6). This is a Christian who lacks spiritual depth or deep spiritual roots. His faith is a surface level faith. His relationship with Christ is peripheral. This Christian has "not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended" (Mt.13:21). In Mark's reporting, the Lord Jesus Christ says the seed "had not much earth…no depth of earth" (Mk.4:5). He lacks durable faith. He can't stand pressure or trouble. He can't resist temptation. He finds it extremely hard to love righteousness and hate iniquity at the same time.

God delights in Christians who are deeply rooted in their faith, and whose branches grow out of the root of Christ (Isa.11:1). Jeremiah describes the man who trusts in the Lord as "a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit" (Jer.17:8). In Hosea 14:5, God says, "I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon." God wants us to "take root downward, and bear fruit upward" (2Kgs.19:30; Isa.37:31). Isaiah declares, "He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit" (Isa.27:6).

God wants the Christian to develop deep spiritual roots. The Christian's spiritual roots must be in Christ, not in empty religion. Paul says, "ROOTED and BUILT UP IN HIM, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving" (Col.2:7). 'Rooted and built up' tells us that depths determine heights. Again, Paul says, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being ROOTED and GROUNDED IN LOVE…" (Eph.3:17). Follow the flow: 'rooted in Christ,' 'established in the faith,' and 'rooted in love.' We can't afford to live the Christian life without strong spiritual roots in Christ, in faith, and in love.

Deep spiritual roots imply firmness, forcefulness, faithfulness, and fruitfulness of faith in Jesus Christ. It shows in our choices and actions, values and attitudes, words and works, creed and conduct, persuasions and professions, and convictions and character.

A Christian with deep spiritual roots must deal with wrong roots: the root of bitterness, the love of money, which is the root of all evil, and the root of the enemy, and what Isaiah calls "the serpent's root" (Heb.12:15; 1Tim.6:10; Mt.15:13;Isa.14:29).

God supplies all you need to develop deep roots in Christ. Job testifies, "My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch" (Jb.29:19). Solomon says "the root of the righteous shall not be moved," and "the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit" (Prov.12:3,12).

I pray for you not to be found among those who have no root, and for you to take root downward and bear fruit upward. Amen.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter