Sending Out Roots

Author: Mark Fenstermacher
February 11, 2022

Standing on the top of Mount Nebo, looking west down across the Jordan Valley to the rolling hills of the Galilee in the distance, the great valley floor looked dry and lifeless. But, taking a second glance, you can see a ragged line of green running from north to south. There, in the middle of the dry valley, there are trees and shrubs growing alongside the Jordan River. You can follow the river by observing the ragged line of green.

Life, wisdom, and faith is often about where—and how—we put down our roots. Do we anchor our lives in truth that is popular in the moment or truth that endures? Do we put our roots down and seek value and meaning in the money we make, the property we own, the power we wield, our physical beauty, the “high” provided by ceaseless busyness, or is our value and meaning to be found in the relationship we have with God?

How do we put down roots?

In our current new member class, we have talked about daily prayer, the experience of worship, a regular connection with scripture, the transforming experience of serving and giving ourselves (and money!) away: these are all some ways we put down our roots seeking to be fully alive.

The prophet, Jeremiah, says (Chapter 17) that when we trust in human answers, prosperity, and our own strength we are dwelling “in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.” On the other hand, when we trust in the LORD, when we put our confidence in the faithfulness and the love and truth of God, we “will be like a tree planted by the water that sends our roots by the stream.”

That tree, that life, “does not fear when the heat comes” and in fact “its leaves are always green.”

And, I want you to know, the heat always comes. 

Where are you sending out roots?

Are you putting them down in soil, in truth, that lasts and will keep you green, producing fruit, when the heat comes? Or are you putting down your roots in the shallow, salty soil of business success, political zealotry, power and control, popularity, physical beauty, or intellectual brilliance?

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I suspect that, if you were standing on some mountain peak looking down at your life, the green places would be moments and experiences where you were rooted in the faithfulness, wisdom, and truth of God. They would be moments of prayer, times when you helped a neighbor, experiences where you offered grace to someone who needed a second chance, or encounters where everyone else was silent in the face of injustice or racism but you spoke up in a quiet, courageous, genuine, Jesus-like way.

It’s never too late to start…putting down roots with God.

Where are you sending out your roots? What soil, what truth, “anchors” you? Is there a line of green, a jagged line of living, fruit-producing moments, marking your life with God?

In Christ and for Christ,
Pastor Mark

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