Ephesians 3:14-21
“How Deep Are the Roots?”
When I first read the Scripture reading for today, I was in Awe of what it implicated. “To be rooted and grounded in love!” What a way of life. To love others as myself, to put others needs before my own, to have the love of Christ within me. Oh if we all were grounded in this love what a wonderful place the world would be. There would be no wars; everyone would accept each other, looking at each other through the eyes of God. There would be no more hunger; we would truly be “our brother’s keeper.” It truly would be Heaven on earth.
I contemplated this part of the scripture, looking for discernment, looking for a way for me to understand this “being rooted” way of life. It came to me as I was weeding our flower garden last week. As my daughters and I were pulling up weeds…and that’s another story…I noticed that some of the weeds were coming up easily. Their roots were not deep and the girls had an easy time pulling them up. Then there were the other weeds…as we were weeding, these were the ones that took a lot more pulling and strength to pull up. Their roots went much deeper, they were the taller ones that had “dug deep” into the ground for nourishment from the fertile soil. They were the ones that were towering over the others. They were the ones that were in it for the long haul. This made me think “how deep are my roots?” Am I grounded in fertile soil and taking in nourishment to stand strong and be in it for the long haul?
“Rooted and Grounded in Love”…what does that truly mean? We use the word “love” so much these days…in so many situations…that I think it has lost its’ true meaning. We say things like “I love this car…I love this T.V. show…I love this food”…we love, we love, we love, but do we really understand its’ meaning? When we reach out to others…we are grounded in love. When we do things for others and expect nothing in return…we are grounded in love. When we give a listening ear to someone who just needs a friend, someone to talk to, not thinking of our own agenda, being a true listener…we are grounded in love. 1 John 1:7b states that “if we walk in the light, as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another”…if we walk in the light of God we will be rooted and grounded in love and be in fellowship with each other and Him who is the light.
Now I don’t know about you…but I am a visual person. I need to see things to get a true under standing…a picture you can say…of what it is. So what does being rooted and grounded in love look like? I remember once…my daughters and I were visiting our next door neighbor and her grandchildren. Our youngest daughter Shanequa was sitting on our neighbors lap. She turned to her and said “God Loves You.” Well…our neighbor said “yes honey, I know, God loves me” and continued to talk to me. Well Shanequa took her by the sides of her face, looked her straight in the eye and said “No…God loves you!” Rooted and grounded in love…concerned that someone knows that God love them.
Another time I was watching the Disney Channel with one of my daughters. They have these little shorts instead of commercials sometimes. There was a story about a little girl named Arabella. She started writing to another little girl in the hospital. Letting her know she was thinking about her. After a while she began to write more letters to other children in the hospital letting them know she was thinking about them too. She even went as far as to save up her money and sent one of these other children to camp during the summer. Rooted and grounded in love…she cared enough to let others know they are cared for. She did an unselfish act in sending this other child to camp instead of herself. She cared more for others.
How do we become rooted and grounded in love? Where can we get the strength…how can we open the door to God’s grace so that we are able to think of others before ourselves? Well…Paul gives us a hint in this scripture on how to obtain this grounding, this love for on another. Paul prayed…he prayed that “we may have the power to comprehend what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge…all knowledge...so that we may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Paul knew that God is able to accomplish abundantly more than we can ask or imagine. It is through prayer that we can come before the throne of God and ask for this grace, this grounding, this Christ-likeness for ourselves. It is through prayer and the asking of grace that God can use us as His ambassadors of love, hope and joy.
Paul’s prayer was a 4 part prayer:
1. Paul prayed for Spiritual strength – strength to love God as He loves us. To be able to see through God’s eyes those around us. The least, the lost and the forgotten.
2. Paul prayed for the indwelling of Christ – to be rooted and grounded in fertile ground. To become more Christ-like, following the path of our redeemer.
3. Paul prayed for the knowledge of the dimensions of Christ’s love – to know how much we are loved by God.
4. The last part of Paul’s prayer is a God-filled life – to have a life that is full of God’s goodness and grace.
I feel that this not only pertains to the Ephesians but also to us today. It is not only a prayer of the past…it is a prayer for the present and future…for all believers.
Where does our nourishment come from when we are rooted and grounded in this love? Well…I like the way my favorite poet answers this in his “Grounded in the Water” poem. It’s a simple poem but it has a lot of meaning to it…”All life’s problems bleed away when I get grounded in the water.” What is this grounding water that takes away life’s problems? Where can I find this water? It is found in the living water of God. In His Word that waters and nurtures our souls and helps us grow into that shade tree, that Mustard tree, that we may give shade and love to all those around us.
In John 3:13-14, Jesus is talking to a Samaritan woman at the well. He tells her that “everyone who drinks from this well will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water I will give them will never be thirsty. The water I will give them will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” Now that’s what I call a tall drink of water. When we are full of this living water, this water of eternal life, we need to let it flow through our heart and out to others through our words and actions.
I read an article in last Sunday’s Concord Monitor. It was about the Crutchfield Building in Concord and its’ tenants, maybe you saw it. They are people in our community here in Concord. Many are lost, alone and frightened. Many have no family to visit them. Many are unable to leave their home either because of physical issues or emotional ones. These are the least, the lost, the forgotten. These are “Pearls of Wisdom” that God has graced us with. We should be reaching out to this community and others like them. We need to be rooted and grounded in love for our community and the people in it. We need to put our words of “love”, our mission statement, into action.
So where do we find the right ground to be rooted in? We can find this fertile ground to plant our roots in the infinite love of God. It is from this love we derive all the nourishment that is essential to our growth until we have the mind of Jesus, our Risen Lord. When we build on this ground, our foundation is built in love, on that firm rock. John 3:16 reads “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” This is the foundation, this fertile ground, that our souls, and all its’ hopes and dreams, can safely be planted. It is a foundation that can not be shaken. This is where redemption flows to us by the Grace of God.
The question I leave you with today is this…how deep are your roots? Are they like the weeds that are easily pulled up? When the thermometer gets hot do you wilt and die in the heat of the day? Or do your roots run deep? Planted in the rich soil of God’s love...drinking in the Living water of our Lord Jesus Christ…reaching out in love to those around you. Rooted and grounded deeply in the love and saving grace of our Savior
AMEN
by Pastor Ruth Foss
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