Ephesians 3.8-21 (4)
Pray Psalm 119.49.
Remember the word to Your servant,
Upon which You have caused me to hope.
Sing Psalm 119.49.
(Wycliff: All for Jesus)
LORD, remember all the good Word You have spoken unto me!
For I ever hope in You, LORD as I serve You joyfully.
Read Ephesians 3.8-21; meditate on verse 17.
What do the words “rooted” and “grounded” suggest?
Preparation
1. Where does Jesus make His home?
2. How do we know Him there? What are the effects of His being there?
Meditation
The words “rooted” and “grounded” suggest firmness, fixedness, stability, even immovability. The love God has for us is like this. Not only has He demonstrated His love for us by sending Jesus to die for our sins. And not only does He offer eternal life to us through Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. But for all who have received Jesus “through faith” God has rooted and grounded His love in us in two ways.
First, He has sent the Spirit of Jesus to dwell within us, literally, to make Himself at home in us by occupying our soul and undertaking the daily work of keeping it in order—heart, mind, and conscience—and adding more of His beauty to it by showing us Jesus—in His Word and His works—so that we want to be like Him, and increasingly are (2 Cor. 3.12-18). Second, the Spirit writes the Law of God—the Law of liberty and love—on our heart, where it rules the rest of our soul with and for love for God and neighbors.
Two other images come to mind, however, when I think of “rooted” and “grounded.” Being rooted suggests a process that leads to growth, beauty, and fruitfulness—like a carefully-tended flower or fruiting plant. When we’re rooted in love, love is what blossoms from us or may be experienced from us by others.
On the other hand, “grounded” makes me think of a lightning rod. On homes where storms are frequent, a lightning rod is the highest point of the structure, running from the top of the house by an unbroken circuit into the ground. So when lightning storms come, if the home is struck, the lightning rod passes the power along to the ground. When we are “grounded” in God’s love, we will pass that powerful affection and glory along to others as well.
Rooted and grounded in love. That’s us.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“Therefore hear the parable of the sower:
When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.
But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.
Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces; some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (Matt. 13.18-23).
Many companies today make their living by selling fertilizer.
There are other online sources who, with just a picture of your ailing houseplant, can instruct you in how to bring it back to life. Even we who are horticulturally challenged know to replenish used up soil and sustain our humble growths with water.
Alas, the church might have no concept of this idea when it comes to the seeds under our tending care.
What if we helped those who don’t understand fully about the Gospel of salvation and sanctification?
What if we helped plant more deeply the seeds languishing without root, so that when tribulation and persecution take place they do not stumble?
What if we help remove thorns from their gardens so that the lure of the world is not so alluring, and they can be fruitful?
What if our rooted and grounded seed produced such a lovely garden that people longed to know how we did it?
“Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God,
The LORD,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the weak, and
to those who have no might He increases strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and
the young men shall utterly fall,
but those who wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint” (Is. 40.28-31).
“…that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;
that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to…” (Eph. 3.17, 18).
“LORD, I hope for Your salvation, and
I do Your commandments” (Ps. 119.166).
Root and ground me, LORD, so I may help root and ground others in Your loving soil.
Reflection
1. How’s your “rooting” and “grounding” these days? Need some work?
2. What could you do—not just say, but do—to help a new believer begin to be rooted and grounded in God’s Word?
3. Sometimes our calling is to cultivate the hard soil of someone’s soul. Do you have any folks like that in your Personal Mission Field? How are you helping them be open to the Gospel?
If the law of Christ is written in our hearts, and the love of Christ is shed abroad there, then Christ dwells there. Where his Spirit dwells, there he dwells. Matthew Henry (1662-1714) Commentary on Ephesians 3.13-19
Pray Psalm 119.50-56.
Pray that God will use His Word to “root” and “ground” you more deeply in Him, and that you will know His surrounding love throughout this day.
Sing Psalm 119.50-56.
(Wycliff: All for Jesus)
This my comfort in affliction, this my comfort in all strife:
that Your Word is my redemption, giving me eternal life!
Though the proud deride and taunt me, I will trust Your faithful Word.
Let Your judgments from of old be all my comfort, holy LORD.
Indignation grips me, Savior, for those who forsake Your Word.
All Your statutes, all Your favor, I will sing with joy, O LORD!
In the night Your Name attends me, and I keep Your holy Word;
let Your precepts all befriend me, as I keep them, glorious LORD.
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Other columns of interest this week: In our ReVision series on “The Kingdom Economy” we continue looking at ways the Law of God applies to our lives. This week in our Read Moore podcast we consider the question of what it means to know Jesus Christ. Our Crosfigell teaching letter continues our study of the life of Brigit, a contemporary of Brendan. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
And please prayerfully consider supporting The Fellowship of Ailbe with your prayers and gifts. You can contribute online, via PayPal or Anedot, or by sending a gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, P. O. Box 8213, Essex, VT 05451.
Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
