DEEP ROOTS

AN EARLY LESSON

As a young man eager about my new faith in Christ, I would listen to talks and sermons related to the Christian life.  After awhile I began to notice a pattern.  Energetic mission minded servants of Christ spoke eloquently and convincingly about the Great Commission, the need for laborers, and the necessity of saying 'yes' unconditionally to the call of God on my life.  And I took those admonitions and lessons to heart. But I also noticed that the older the speaker, the less was the message about our mission, and the more the talk would focus on Jesus Himself and our walk with Him.  I thought to myself, "Have these old guys figured out something that us younger guys haven't learned yet?

Now, four plus decades into my journey with Christ, I am seeing more clearly that my first priority is, and always has been, my personal walk with Jesus.  It's so easy to get caught up and distracted with tasks, with needs, with opportunities, and neglect my relationship with Him. It's too easy to slide into busyness and then burn out.  Unpredictable and unexpected demands lead to frustration for me. I know that sometimes my time with God has spared me, saved me from getting overwhelmed and losing the big picture that only God has.

A DANGEROUS PRAYER

Fruitfulness for the long haul requires two things:  abiding in Him, and pruning.  I think I have the abiding part figured out; that's my responsibility. The pruning is another matter; that's what God gets to do!  When I turned 50, I prayed that God would fulfil Psalm 92:12-14 in my life, that I would be fruitful into old age.  I would like for all the years of my life to be significant and useful to God for His purposes.

As I meditated on that passage a bit later, I realized that, for a tree to be fruitful, it needs to be pruned.  I had unintentionally prayed for God to prune me into old age!

A friend recently told a story about pruning his rose bushes all the way to the ground. Nothing left but the roots.  Wow! And that is the point:  if my root system is strong, I will withstand the pruning and continue to be fruitful.

O Lord, I give myself to you again for Your purposes.  Prune me as You know what's best, that I may bear fruit that remains for Your glory.


¹² The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree,
He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
¹³ Planted in the house of the Lord,
They will flourish in the courts of our God.
¹⁴ They will still yield fruit in old age;
They shall be full of sap and very green,
¹⁵ To declare that the Lord is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

     - Psalm 92:12-15, NASB