by Tim Hall

When it comes to rose-gardening, I'm obviously a novice. It's usually the bush and the blossoms that get my attention, for I know how much my wife and I love freshly cut roses. On this occasion, though, my focus was on their roots. These plants needed a new location, and my job was to carefully dig them up and move them. The bush I had planted a year ago was no problem; it was the older bushes that challenged me. Their roots were deep into the ground.

The Bible uses the image of roots. As I occasionally work with plants, both vegetable and ornamental, my appreciation for roots deepens. The benefits of well-developed roots to a plant are significant. The same is true for spiritual lives.

Properly-developed roots are the plant's assurance of water, even in times of drought. Jeremiah used this image in Jeremiah 17:7,8: "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit" (NKJV). "The year of drought" inevitably comes into every life. Our task is to be prepared for such times. Those who take the time to nourish their roots will find the water that is scarce to others. Shallow-rooted plants wither and die (see also Matthew 13:20,21).

A second reason for developing our roots is found in Colossians 2:6,7: "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving." Paul's thought is not about drought or moisture; he spoke of the need to be established. That fact was impressed on me as I transplanted the rose bushes. The year-old bush was easily removed from its spot; the older bushes clung more tenaciously to their positions. Christians who have dedicated themselves to maturing in the faith will not easily be moved from where the Lord plants them.

Roots are therefore vital to a plant. But how does one develop spiritual roots?

The first psalm holds the key to growing more stable in our faith. After warning against evil pursuits, the writer pronounced this blessing: "But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper" (Psalm 1:2,3). Here is a tree that is fruitful because it found the moisture it needed and because it was not moved by the storm. Here is a picture of what God expects of His people.

Reading and studying our Bibles – it's not a novel or exotic idea. But David identified it as the key to proper development of spiritual roots. In those quiet moments of reading God's word, development is taking place. It can't be seen, and it's not as exciting as cutting and displaying prize-winning roses. But without those roots, there will be no blooms.