How Deep Are Your Roots?

Jeremiah 17:7-10
7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
8 He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

9 The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
10 “I the Lord search the heart
and test the mind,
to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.”

As I read this passage a while ago, I immediately asked myself, "How deep are my roots?" I began reflecting on the depth of my spiritual life in the Lord. As I reflected, the Lord called my attention to verse 9 and I was tempted to despair! What good will it do to think about the depth of my trust in God if my heart is so deceitful? Won't my heart just deceive me into thinking that I'm much better off than I really am? (For some the heart might deceive in the other way, loading a person with guilt...that's not my problem)

In the end, I realized once again that God's wonderful grace will sustain me. My relationship with God is not based on theological truths running through my head, or my status as a missionary but on His grace given to me in Christ. Trusting that grace is the only way to be saved. At the same time, the deepening of my spiritual roots is not dependent on my excellent powers of self-reflection and introspection but on the same grace that justified me in the first place!

It's good that the Bible reminds us that we need to root our lives deeply in the Lord. It's also good that the Bible warns us of our deceitful hearts that can easily fool us and lead us astray. In the end, it will only by by the grace of God that we grow ever deeper in our trust of the Lord, weathering the storms and trials of life as we honor Him.

How deep are your roots?