I had a moment today.
Jesus often used things from everyday life to teach. The sparrows who don’t worry about what to eat. The flowers that don’t worry about what to wear. The woman kneading dough. The man working in a field.
He took things that people saw every day and used them as object lessons.
I decided a while back to do the same thing with our kids to teach them about God and what He has said to us.
When we built a cardboard house, we talked about building our house on the rock or on shifting sand. When we saw a huge stone with a big crack, we talked about Moses striking the rock and water coming out of it. And how Jesus was struck and sends us the Living Water of the Holy Spirit.
Today, we saw the coolest roots I’ve seen in a long time, so I used it as an opportunity to teach.
We talked about being rooted in Christ. How if our faith is grounded and nourished by Christ, we can withstand hard things. How our faith is secure because Jesus rose from the dead. (Colossians 2:6-7, 1 Corinthians 15:14)
We talked about being rooted in the Word of God. How when we read the Bible and delight in it, it is like we are a tree planted by a stream. That we can go through a drought, much like this Covid season of life has felt, and still have all that we need. We can bear fruit in good times and bad because our hope is not of this world. (Psalm 1:1-3, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
We talked about being rooted in love and the immensity of God’s love for us. That my prayer for them is they would know even a sliver of the love that God has for them. How wide, how deep, how long, and how high that love extends. That they would know the weight of what Christ did on the cross because of this love: A love that is beyond comprehension. We spoke of how these roots going down into the love of God give us strength, life and power. We can faithfully and fearlessly follow God because of the love He has for us. (Ephesians 3:14-19)
As we stood under that tree, balancing on the parts protruding from the soil, I prayed that what I was teaching them would also take root. That it would be a grain of truth buried in their hearts.
That one day, when the droughts and the storms come in their lives, as they surely will, they would remember where their hope comes from and stand tall, firmly rooted in Christ, Scripture and love.
And as I taught,
looking at their little faith filled faces,
I also learned…
and my own roots grew a little deeper.
“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” Colossians 2:6-7 ESV
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.” Psalm 1:1-3 ESV
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:14-19
Not a Theologian 