Putting Down Roots

Meditate: Acts 2:46

That said it also comes at me from another direction…

After I’ve been at this Christian thing a while it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that I can slack off because I’ve arrived in other ways. “I’m mature, don’t you know. In all humility, I’ve reached the point where I’m a guide for the blind and a light for those in darkness.” Yeah, right.

I meet people all the time who confess that their life seems to be in a downward spiral (spiritual or otherwise.) And as we talk, it comes out that they’re not reading the Word, they’re not praying, and/or they’re not in fellowship or observing any of those things I talked about yesterday (patterns, boundaries, habits, relationships, or accountability).

In other words, they’re trying to go it alone. The Word and prayer provide the foundation and fellowship provides balance and direction that you just won’t get going it alone. (This isn’t anything new. Back in 1855, Charles Spurgeon told his English congregation, “There is dust enough on some of your Bibles to write ‘damnation’ with your fingers.”)

Think trees: roots, trunk, fruit. No roots, no trunk; no trunk, no fruit. No Word and prayer, no meaningful fellowship; no fellowship, no fruit.

In the time of these early Christians, people didn’t own books so for “Bible reading” you went to the temple. The temple was also the center for prayer and, as we see here, they also took advantage of these opportunities to check in with one another.

That’s the “between the lines” significance of these words: As “They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity” it brought strength to their foundations, gave them balance and set this growing Church on its way.

It will work for us, as well.

• Am I “continuing” or have I been drifting?

Pray:
Praise: You are the Rock, a sure foundation for our times.
Confess: I rely on my own strength more than Your ways.
Thank: Always faithful, no one who trusts in You will be disappointed.
Ask: Set my feet on Your Rock, help me to continue in Your ways.

Digging Deeper: Ephesians 5:1-21

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