Rooted 7
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. (Col 2:6-7)
It has been the theme for the University Mission week: Rooted 7 – calling upon believers to be rooted in Jesus Christ completely and every day. Over 50 missioners, majority of them students, devoted their time to reaching out especially in Lecture rooms and around the University campus; we appreciate the many Lecturers who were cooperative in giving opportunity for Mission publicity and a message to be shared with the students. Some Lecturers joined in the mobilization by arranging for more rooms to be reached – and this was encouraging. The mission was successful despite the many interrupting challenges: many key missioners lost relatives and had to go for burials, some staff members had ill relatives, and there was a little strike among students on Wednesday; nevertheless, the Lord’s move has been unstoppable.
The message is simple: if you are not rooted in Jesus Christ, you cannot stand the storms of life. Our Lord used both agricultural and engineering language to call people to himself: ‘I am the vine, you are the branches’ was his charge; branches that remain connected to the vine bear much fruit and enjoy good care. Those who do not remain in Jesus Christ are likened to branches that thrown away to wither and later be burned. He also likened those who listen and take His word to a person who built his house well on a rock, while the one who does not put His word into practice is like the person who built his house on sand and it was washed away by the storms when it rained.
Now Paul also uses agricultural and engineering terms to call believers to growth and establishment: be rooted and built up in Jesus Christ. We have seen many huge trees fall down because something has gone wrong with the roots – either they were eaten by ants, or they were cut, or they dried up due to old age; without roots, a tree cannot stand. A house cannot stand without a foundation and a firm structure; the recent tragedy of a collapsed building near Makerere University tells the story in painful style. To be rooted and built up in Christ means to receive His Word and continually put it into practice. It means resisting and refusing counterfeits and half-truths that are sold by so many enticing ‘christs’. It means to radically and publicly identify as a disciple of Jesus Christ, serving His purposes at all times. It means to hope in Jesus Christ alone as the true and only vine in whom you will derive all the nutrients for life here today and tomorrow in eternity; to hope in Him as the rock upon which your life will be safe and secure from all alarms. He readily receives all, even today, all who will choose to be rooted and built up in Him, and you are welcome.
God bless you all.