Run your roots deep in the Lord

Greetings:
The roots of a tree are essential for its growth and survival.
Roots obtain water, oxygen and minerals from the soil to feed the tree.
The root system serves to guarantee the existence of the whole tree. Without roots, a tree simply could not even survive. One of the roots' functions is to anchor the tree in the soil, providing stability and a firm base for the entire structure of the trunk, branches, leaves, and fruit.
Our Christian walk is much the same. We have to develop roots that stand firm and run deep.
It takes time and effort to establish Christian roots.
Both the Old and New Testaments draw on images of the plant world to describe God's people and teach us valuable lessons about our spiritual condition. Nature surrounds us. Its images are familiar to us.
The prophet Jeremiah expressed a powerful analogy in the Old Testament, comparing the faith-filled person with a strong, flourishing tree:
 In Jeremiah 17:7-9 (The Amplified Bible) we read: “[Most] blessed is the man who believes in, trusts in, and relies on the Lord, and whose hope and confidence the Lord is. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters that spreads out its roots by the river; and it shall not see and fear when heat comes; but its leaf shall be green. It shall not be anxious and full of care in the year of drought, nor shall it cease yielding fruit.”
In the New Testament, Jesus knew the value of using parables from nature for his listeners. He often spoke about the organic cycle of life, fruit-bearing, and death to illustrate the truths of the life of the spirit.
In Mark, Chapter 4 we read about the parable of the sower and the seed.
Jesus said we need to see the importance of developing a deep-rooted connection with God to be rooted securely in him to sustain life and bear fruit:
In Mark 4:5-6 we read: “Other seed [of the same kind] fell on ground full of rocks, where it had not much soil; and at once it sprang up, because it had no depth of soil; And when the sun came up, it was scorched, and because it had not taken root, it withered away.”
These seeds put down roots, and the roots struggled to find anchorage, but the soil was rocky. Finally the plant withered and died, because the roots found no source of water and nutrients.
As Jesus explained in Mark 4:16-17,  “And in the same way the ones sown upon stony ground are those who, when they hear the Word, at once receive and accept and welcome it with joy; And they have no real root in themselves, and so they endure for a little while; then when trouble or persecution arises on account of the Word, they immediately are offended (become displeased, indignant, resentful) and they stumble and fall away.”
As we go forth today, let us see how important it is that our roots run deep in the Lord, being anchored firmly in faith, and sustained by our daily fellowship with him.

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