To Encourage You

Colossians 2:6-7 “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith.”

The Christian life has two aspects, one seen and the other unseen, that are equally vital to its growth and maturation.  The verses above are written to Christians, i.e., those who have “received Christ Jesus as Lord.”  That’s the starting point. That’s when spiritual life begins, but it’s certainly not where it ends.  “Receiving Christ” begins in the mind. It’s a belief that He is Who He said He was, and as such, He is our only hope for forgiveness, salvation from the judgment of sin, and eternal life.  It’s an acknowledgement of Jesus as the Lord of all.  But then our life is to reflect this belief. It is to be a walk, i.e., a way of life, that reflects what we say we believe.  That “walk” is described by Paul as having a “rooted” aspect, and a “built up” aspect.  Those two things establish one in the faith, which means to show that it is real, both to the one who professes faith and to others who observe it. 

Roots are unseen. They are the foundation of any plant. They fix it in place and draw nourishment from the medium in which it is growing. Roots that don’t run deep beneath the surface are easily torn up when the winds come, which imperils the plant. So, for the Christian, we are to run our roots deep down in the faith so that the storms of life don’t rattle us and tear us from the faith we profess. In our unseen moments, when it’s just us and the Lord, we should be seeking Him day by day in prayer and the study of His Word.  Jesus told us that there is an aspect of our relationship with Him that occurs when we “go into our room and shut the door” i.e., when we seek the Father in secret (Matthew 6:6).  Secret means just that: unseen, just you and the Lord.  It’s in that unseen quietness that the believer’s life becomes rooted deep in the life of the Savior.  It is from that foundation that the Christian is then “built up in Him.” 

The building up of a building and the growth of a plant is what’s seen by others.  It’s the visible part.  It’s the evidence of the Christian life.  Elsewhere Jesus calls it the “light that shines before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).  That ever- increasing growth in Christian character, that Christlikeness, is evidence of the strength of the foundation, and the depth and strength of the roots.  It’s always that way.  The unseen things are essential. Without them the growth will be feeble, and the light that shines from the Christian life will be dim.  

So, how are your roots?  How much emphasis and time are you giving to those unseen moments when it’s just you and your Savior?  Are you rooting yourself deep in Him, so that you will grow in Him, walk in Him, and be established in Him?  May God help us to be rooted in the faith, for that’s the only way that the building up in the faith will ever occur.