The righteous will never be uprooted, but the wicked will not remain in the land.
Proverbs 10:30
There has been quite a bit of travel in my schedule lately. I’ve been blessed to be able to connect with our Global Methodist Church in Costa Rica, Spain, and Fort Worth, TX through some training. All of those trips included some pretty long flights. I like to travel, so spending time on airplanes is just part of the journey. Sometimes, I like to watch a movie on longer flights to break up the trip. I recently watched the movie Twisters, which came out a year or so ago. This movie depicts the powerful forces that create and move tornadoes across open landscapes, like Oklahoma or Kansas. We’ve recently seen the real destruction caused by tornadoes in Florida, which accompanied the hurricanes that have severely impacted that region as well. One aspect of tornadoes and hurricanes, especially due to the wind, is the violent uprooting of trees from their grounding in place. As a fan of trees, seeing one uprooted and thrown to the ground is hard to watch.
Our verse for today reminded me of the grounding we, as believers in Jesus, have in a world that tries to uproot and throw us to the ground. The author of Proverbs gave a simple promise to the people of Israel: those who are in right relationship with God will never be uprooted from the grounding they have in God’s provision, forgiveness, grace, and mercy. Those who remain connected to God in faith will be held strongly in place when the violent winds and rushing waters try to uproot and destroy them. But, those who try to walk this life without a strong and root-grounding connection with the one who gives the roots, will be swept far away for eternity to come. That’s a hard reality, but also a very powerful motivation to share and show the urgent need to others for that grounding relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The promise is that we will never be uprooted. We may possibly sway in the wind or even creak and strain under the powerful forces of evil, hurtful words, trials and struggles, misunderstandings, unforgiveness, national election stress, weariness for the ministry and mission, and so much more. Yet, as each follower of Jesus learns to abide in Jesus and do what Jesus does (the definition of a disciple), then the roots grow and grow so that the worst of storms cannot uproot us, our churches, or our faith in Jesus.
As I write this, I’m getting ready to board another plane bound for home, which will be great. What’s even greater is that I’ll have some time to pray and worship, or have a conversation with someone next to me, perhaps. If God opens the door, I’ll pray for boldness to speak the name of Jesus, our root and rock. Are your roots growing deep in discipleship, no matter what storm is raging around you? Are you in right relationship with God through prayer, worship, and bible reading, so that your roots grow stronger and deeper for the storms to come? Jesus (and I) want you to be in this mission for the long-haul, serving as a disciple until Jesus comes or calls you home. Get grounded in Him today! Now, I wonder what movies are playing on this next flight?
~Steve
