Jeremiah 17:5-8 5 This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD.  6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.  7 “But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. 8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

Our house in Sherman had a row of Japanese boxwoods that I planted. They did well except for one spot on the corner of the house where the shrubs kept dying. I replaced the bushes in that spot three or four times, and they grew for a while, but then they start turning brown and eventually died off. No one could figure out why this kept happening. There seemed to be something in the soil in that spot that kept killing the plants.

Where something is rooted is important. If a plant is rooted in a place where it does not get proper food and water, it won’t grow. If the roots do not run deep, the plant will have a hard time withstanding the winds of adversity. This applies to people as well as plants. Where are your roots?

All of us are rooted in this world. Many think and live and act as though this is all there is. They have an emptiness in their lives that they want to fill. Some determine the way to be happy is by taking advantage of everything this world has to offer. They look for sustenance and nourishment in things. They try to find fulfillment in getting more money, more toys, more vacations, bigger houses, newer cars, designer clothes, electronic gadgets and whatever else they can find. Such pursuits consume their lives and bring, at best, fleeting satisfaction. If you live life as though this is all there is, that empty feeling will never go away. If you put your trust and confidence in things, not only will you be disappointed here on earth…you will be devastated for eternity, like a parched bush in the wasteland.

So what about those of us who follow Jesus? Our roots are in the world, too. And Jesus warned it would not always be easy: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) He overcame the world and offered you something better. He promises forgiveness of sins and fulfilled lives when you believe in Him as your Savior. He also prayed that you would understand that your spiritual sustenance should not come from the world, but from Him.

John 17:13-17 ¹³ “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. ¹⁴ I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. ¹⁵ My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. ¹⁷ Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

What we need to survive, more than that to live forever, will not come from the world. It comes from the WORD, and the Word Made Flesh, Jesus Christ. Yes, we are in this world, but we are not to be of the world. It is imperative for Christians rooted in this world to be nourished by the Word. We are made holy by God’s truth, which has been shown to us in Jesus Christ. We need to drink deeply of the love and grace and promises that God has made and fulfilled in Jesus. We do that when we are in His Word.

The passage from Jeremiah equates trust and confidence in the Lord with being rooted in a spot where you will get all the nourishment you need, like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. Trees planted in spots like that will flourish.

Where are your roots?