Word For You is no longer available in print or digital format although the archive of previous readings will remain available on this page for some time yet. If you'd like to continue with Word For You, you can listen to each day's devotional on the UCB Player app.
Being fruitful (3)
Paul wrote these words: ‘Just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ’ (v.6-10 NLT). If you ever visit an Arizona desert, you’ll find that it’s full of different kinds of vegetation. The contrasts are fascinating. The dried-up, brittle tumbleweed blows everywhere, because it has no roots, but the saguaro cactus can bear fruit even in 130-degree weather, because its roots go out fifty to sixty feet in all directions. We must have deep spiritual roots if we're going to make it through the ‘dry spells’ of life. Most people can put up with a day or two of drought, but what about extended seasons of stress, grief, lack, illness, and adversity? Whatever our lives are rooted to is what we'll draw our strength from. The psalmist wrote this: ‘They delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do. But not the wicked! They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind’ (Psalm 1:2-4 NLT). Today pray, ‘Lord, root me deep in you.’
What Now?
Go back to the drawing you made yesterday. Read each verse that you wrote down, and ask God that His words of love would refresh, feed, and strengthen you for the year ahead.
The UCB Word For You
Read More