Trees Deeply Rooted
One of the toys popular during my childhood was the inflatable floor based punching bags. They usually had an image of a clown printed on them, because I guess clowns were inherently punchable. The most distinguishing feature was the weight in the bottom of the bag. This allowed it to return to an upright state almost immediately after being punched. So you’d strike the bag, it flopped over, and then came right back for another shot. Punch, return, punch, return, punch, return, over and over again, until inevitably a small hole formed somewhere within the first hour of ownership and then all the fun leaked out of the room.
The bag’s ability to take a punch and quickly return to its former state could be described as “resilience.” In fact the dictionary definition of resilience is “the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.” Sunday we looked at how Philippians 4:10-13 held three insights for building a resilient life. As Christians, we want to be strong and able to weather the storms and bear up under them. Our world has become increasingly fragile, where people crumble over the smallest challenge. But Christians are called to root themselves in Christ so that in Him we have resilience.
I’ve been reading Tim Keller’s book on Prayer and he highlights the role the Word of God plays in building our resilience. One example is the way Psalm 1 speaks about a person who is rooted in God’s Word: They are “like a tree rooted so that the wind cannot blow it away… planted by streams of water… an image of someone who can keep going in hard, dry times.” He also notes how this person who meditates on God’s Word has a substance of character. They have “thought things out and have deep convictions, can explain difficult concepts in simple language, and have good reasons behind everything they do. Many people do not meditate [on Scripture]. They skim everything, picking and choosing on impulse, having no thought-out reasons for their behavior. Following whims, they live shallow lives. The people who [are rooted in God’s Word] can resist pressure—but those who do not, go along with the throng, chafflike, wherever it is going.”
We want to be people with thought-out convictions of depth, not shallowness easily blown along by whatever is the rage of the moment. This only comes by saturating our minds and hearts in God’s Word over time. Prepare to start a new Bible reading plan with us in January and have our minds renewed and transformed in 2026.