I live in Alabama, and we are known to have a tornado or two every year that shakes our world and turns everything upside down. Especially trees! When we lived in Alexandria Alabama a strong tornado came through our area and devastated homes and land. Our church took a concentrated effort to go help some people get trees off their homes and get them back toward being able to live in those homes again. Our crew, with chainsaws in the trucks, headed to the worst area and as we approached one home that had trees down all around it I was amazed at the different root structures on different trees. One particular tree that had fallen on a roof of one home did the worst damage. As I looked at the roots I could see that they had not gone very deep into the ground and even though the tree was huge (at least 50 feet tall) it was not very mighty because of the shallowness of its roots. To see the tree standing you would say “that tree will be able to handle a lot of wind.” But not so fast my friend. The roots were too shallow and it was one of the first ones to topple over. I also observed a different type of tree not far away from that one that stood straight and strong and showed it had weathered the storm rather well. In Colossians Paul shows us a parallel between our lives and those tree roots. He writes to the Colossians in chapter 2: And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.
As believers, it is vital that we bury our roots deep in God’s word and in a close, intimate relationship with Jesus. When our roots are deep in the Word of God and in that relationship with Jesus we can easily discern God’s will. God’s will and ways are not based on the empty philosophies of the world. In verse 8 Paul continues Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. Everything about us, our life structure, our direction, our hopes, our dreams, all must come based upon the Word of God. The world will always give some half-cocked version of what true life is all about, but any of those versions are lifeless and empty. That is why we must bury our roots deep in the teachings of Christ, which in turn helps us see a Godly perspective on life itself. In verse 9 Paul writes For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. We are complete in Christ. If our lives are rooted in Him, we will not only handle the storms of life, but we will stand strong as a living testimony of God’s power and might. The world will always throw tornadic problems at us, but if we are rooted in Christ, we will stand strong. This power is what the new life in Christ is all about.
Verse 12 finalizes the whole thought where Paul writes For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him, you were raised to a new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. You are now living in that life with your roots firmly established in the Word of God, which is Jesus.
The Pilgrimage continues…
David Warren
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