Colossians 2:6-7
You have accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord. Now keep on following him. Plant your roots in Christ and let him be the foundation for your life. Be strong in your faith, just as you were taught. And be grateful.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
A cattle farmer purchased harvested timber land to develop for his farming operation. The land had originally been covered in timber, which the previous owner sold and had cleared. This left the ground littered with stumps – and ruts where the equipment had dragged the logs away.
The farmer had to do extensive work to get the soil in condition to produce grass for his cattle. Once he removed all of the stumps and filled in the ruts, he had to treat the land with fertilizers and other nutrients, just to get it to a point where grass would grow. In other words, a lot of work had to be done before the grass would actually take root and rise from the ground. It all began with the soil…a firm foundation for the vegetation that would ultimately feed and sustain his cattle and bring him good prices for them.
When Jesus came to earth and taught His disciples, healed the sick and the lame, and demonstrated how to serve and honor God – then died for our sins on the cross – He laid the foundation for our faith and salvation. He also gave us the promise of spending Eternity with Him in God’s Heavenly home. Jesus “worked the soil” so that we could confidently “plant our roots” in Him and be assured that they would grow and produce good fruit.
The farmer’s “soil reclamation” took a lot of time and hard work. I would venture to say that it also required some wisdom and understanding about just which mixture of nutrients would make the ground the most fertile and receptive to plants and grasses.
This is what Jesus did for us. He invested His time and hard work…the incredible sacrifices that extended to His very life…so that we could be confident of a life in Him that would grow and bloom. Try as we might, we can never calculate – or fully comprehend what this cost Jesus…and it was all done for each of us. But we can offer Him our very best. We can be grateful for His amazing and selfless grace, mercy, forgiveness and love…and we can honor Him with our thoughts, words and actions.
Are you a visible, grateful representation of Jesus’ “fertile soil” and all that He endured to establish a firm foundation for you? Don’t you think it’s time you were?
©2014 Debbie Robus
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