ROOTEDNESS

And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. Isaiah 37:31

REFERENCE
Isaiah 37:31

Rootedness is the quality of being rooted or firmly established. The root is the part of a plant that attaches it to the ground, typically underground, conveying water and nourishment to the rest of the plant via numerous branches and fibers. It also means the source, foundation, or essence of a plant’s life; and also true for man’s life. For everything you see on the visible side, there is an invisible system of roots. The durability, health, strength, sustenance, survival, etc., of the visible is dependent on the invisible roots.

We all desire productive, progressive and prosperous lives, but Isaiah in our text tells us that to bear fruits upwards, we must first send roots downwards. In this age of short cuts and quick fixes, we sometimes forget the principle that roots have to be established downwards before fruit can be borne upwards. You must be willing to make investments before you can draw returns. Before you can practice medicine, you must do several years in school, before you start selling, you must do market research, and before you build, you must draw plans.

Likewise, we must apply same to our walk with God. Daniel 11:32b reveals that ‘the people who know their God shall do exploits.’ In other words, the level of your exploits in God is dependent on the depth of your knowledge of God. The strength of your conviction is dependent on the depth of your foundation. Sending roots downwards into the earth is more difficult than sending stems into the air because there is resistance in the soil, so, it takes effort. It is also invisible work – nobody knows, neither can they judge, but its effects will later manifest. It is done at the subterranean level, but if there is failure there, the visible will not last.

As Christians, we have been called to a life of deep rootedness in Christ. We can’t truly say we are Christians if we have no deep roots in Christ because the life of a tree comes from where it is rooted- its source. Colossians 2:6-7 admonishes us thus, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith…”

SCRIPTURE PHOTO

ADDITIONAL STUDY
Psalm 92:12-15, Ezekiel 31:1-7, & John 15:1-5

REFLECTION

The life of a tree comes from where it is rooted and what source its root takes from; how rooted are you in your source – Christ?