Driving home after church, I saw a tumbleweed skipping across the road … until another moving car caught the edge of it with its tire and it split into a hundred pieces. And I had to chuckle, because our Pastor had just used the symbolism of a tumbleweed in his message: we need to be grounded in God’s truth, nourished and rooted like a tree by the water, not bouncing around like a tumbleweed.
It’s interesting our desires to pursue things, whether it is wealth, knowledge, status, the latest fashions, the next bandwagon of what seems a good cause. But in all these things we can be easily deceived, our judgement clouded and our hearts led astray from the truth if we are not first grounded and rooted in God’s Word. While the Bible is old and was written a long time ago, it is also the one book that has stood the test of time and, as God promised in His Word, has not lost one word. In Matthew 5:17-19 (ESV), during Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, He says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one iota [smallest letter in the alphabet “i”], not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever relaxes the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
Praise God that Christ’s choosing to go to the cross on our behalf saves us from eternal death when we believe on Him, as we could never keep everything in the Law! “So why try? Why read and follow the Bible today?” Christ’s resurrection gives us new life, new purpose, the right things to live for and a hope that nothing and no one can undo! His Word is absolute, His love beyond compare, and His divine power has granted us all we need to live a godly life through the knowledge of Him (2 Peter 1:3). This is the one purpose we so deeply desire, whether we realize it or not, and the one purpose that we can follow and it won’t fade away, and has eternal promise and hope.
As believers, I pray that we stay rooted in God’s truth and do not turn from it, so that it is seen through our daily lives and draws others to Christ. As has been since the deception in the Garden, there are so many things that can sway us and beg for our attention to draw us away from the truth. And it can be confusing and challenging to know what is the truth, as deception still runs rampant (for there is nothing new under the sun, Ecclesiastes 1:9). Which is why it is so important to stay in God’s Word and to ask Him for wisdom (James 1). I say this for myself as much as for anyone reading this, for we can so easily be drawn away. And if we stop feeding on God’s Word and keeping Him as our focus, we will be like a tree in the desert that has nothing to sustain it; we’ll lose our nourishment and turn into a tumbleweed skipping and bouncing in the wind with no direction. If you are reading this and feel like a tumbleweed in the wind, know that you can be rooted again – go to God’s Word, read it, listen to it, listen to Him. It’s the best place to start (you can start in the Gospel of John in the New Testament).
And now I fervently pray that we “may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that you may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that you may know the mystery of God, namely Christ – in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Colossians 2:2-3. And verse 4, “I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments” and break you like a tumbleweed. Stay rooted!