Have you ever made a mistake? Then figured out you made it, said you were sorry and been forgiven? This week I watched a little toddler make a mistake. After some coaching by the parent, the toddler gave the necessary apology. The parent forgave them and told them that it was all over and the problem had been thrown into the ocean. It would never have to be dealt with again. The child spent a few minutes wailing as if the narrowly escaped judgment was yet to happen.
As I watched, I couldn’t help but think that it was a perfect picture of what happens between God and me. I repent. I apologize. God removes my sin as far as the east is from the west. He throws it into the sea of forgetfulness. He promises to remember it no more. He is never going to bring it up again. I sit here wailing as if the impending doom is still about to happen. I stay stuck on my mistake and brokenness, and God is left patiently waiting for me to be ready to move on.
That really has nothing to do with what I was going to say today. I just threw it in for free.
Sometimes remote and entirely passed over Scriptures strike me as the most encouraging. Take as an example the way Paul closes his letter to the Romans:
Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith, to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ, Amen.
Apart from the fact that Paul chooses to refer to God as the only wise God, which nearly sounds as if he is comparing God to other gods who are stupid….
Apart from that random thought, I love the way this closing paragraph begins. I can be established in the gospel message. God is completely able to root my life in the truth that is in the letter to the Romans. I can be rooted and grounded in Christ. Paul refers to Christ as the root and I as a branch. I do not support the Root, but the Root supports me.
I have been considering that I can’t think of any Scriptures where God says I will be planted in a place or among a people or in a (lowercase c) church or in a career or even in a family. They probably exist, but the only one I can think of is the one that says we will be rooted and grounded in love. But God is love, so I don’t really think it is saying we should be rooted in something besides Him.
I can think of many Scriptures that speak about being planted in Him. There is Paul’s whole diatribe in Romans 11. There is Jesus’ own words to His disciples in the Gospel of John. He is the true vine. His Father is the gardener. We are the branches. If we remain in Him and He remains in us, we will bear much fruit. If we don’t remain in Him, we will die.
I can switch churches, I can move between cities and I can change jobs because I should have never been planted in them anyway. My roots should be in Him alone. He should be the only Rock in my life, the only thing I look to as my source of life and the only thing I am entirely committed to. The other people and places are simply other branches with whom God is currently asking me to bear fruit.
I need to be rooted in a Person not in a place or a people.
Being rooted in Him is very safe. Jesus says no one can or will take me out of His Father’s hand. No one can uproot me when I am planted in Him. When I am planted in Him, I will bear fruit that will last and the Father will give me whatever I ask in Jesus’ name.
When I am planted in Him not in human relationships or in a place, I will have peace. I will have this peace because no one can disconnect me from what is the Source of my life. My anxiety levels truly can be low. I will be able to not be anxious about anything because all my hope and expectation is placed in Someone who is completely secure. I will be able to act in faith because my hope will not waver.
“Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” Hebrews 11:1
Where are your roots now? Where does God want you to be planted?
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