So in front of our house we have a flower bed that grows these large leaf plants with beautiful flowers. We did not plant them there but every spring they come back and last all summer. We did not think it was a problem the stalks get pretty thick but they look like wild flowers, so I did not mind. Then, my friend took a picture of a very large copperhead coming out of it and things changed. We decimated the flower bed that weekend. I have 2 children and I did not want to take chances. I felt secure that my domain was safe but left the shovel right by the front door the rest of the season, just in case. The only problem was that the flowers kept coming back. This last spring when they started growing again my wife was determined to not have those plants come back. The plants had officially moved from nuisance weeds to invasive pests and they needed to not be there anymore. So we sprayed round up on them, we used the weed eater, we dug them out by hand but they kept coming back. Finally my wife took the shovel and started digging. Then we discovered the reason why these plants were so hard to eradicate. They did not have normal roots. They had big yucca size roots, about 3 – 4 inches below the soil. I could kill the leaves and stalks and flowers all I wanted, but those roots kept allowing the plants to come back. I was sharing this story with Campus Church at Clemson University this past weekend. We were walking through Ephesians 3 where Paul prays towards the end of the chapter that we, “would be rooted and grounded in the love of Christ.” I was making life very hard for these plants to thrive yet I did not know about the roots. So the flowers kept not only surviving but multiplying despite the harsh conditions i was imposing on them, because of the roots. Life for me has been hard, I have had to do a lot of growing since my carefree days of college. I have not always done so well with that growth. There have been many times where I have let the situations around me determine how strong and sturdy my growth was. If situations were good I would show like that flower but this past couple of years God has been working on my roots. Situational life has not become easier, but God has rooted me in His love. Outsides may not look different, but inside my heart is secure and I am continuing to grow. How about you? Where is your heart rooted?
Jesus promised us in John 10:10 that we would have life more abundantly. He said this statement in contrast to the thief coming to steal, kill and destroy. I was doing everything in my power to kill these plants but the roots were allowing abundant life to happen despite the destroying I was doing. As we allow our roots in the love of Christ to grow to be as big as yucca, we too will continue despite any circumstance, to live that abundant life as well. Let it be so in Jesus name.