Most of us are proud of our roots; and there is nothing wrong with that. Regardless of what denomination we came up in, there are good things about each of them; none, was totally bad. Today, more than ever before, I find myself going back to something we truly once taught in our assemblies and groups. We were told, what one must do or not do, in order to get to Heaven. There quickly arose a question among us, about what was going to happen to those who lived before our time. If they did not have our understanding or beliefs, where would their spirit go.

Our answer was, “they walked in all of the light they knew.” We felt that our God, would judge them for what they did, with the revelation they did have.

Somewhere along the way, we seemed to lose that kind of attitude, and we rather did not accept anyone who did not believe as we did. What we did not understand or realize at the time, was that we would one day, lose a lot of people from among us; they would simply walk away to something else. I clearly recall, how we reacted to them, and how we felt about them. We tried to make up all kinds of reasons, why they we no longer part of us.

Many, used this topic against them. But it seems, that the Christian church, maybe as a whole, may have forgotten, a key point. Even though the apostles taught it, it seems we didn’t hear it. Perhaps, it might do well, to quote a few verses that Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus: “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being ‘rooted and grounded in love,’ may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God” Ephesians 3:17-19. If we’ve missed this, I’m afraid we’ve missed the entire plan; the real point.

We are going to have to ask ourselves, some very tough questions. Just what, were we rooted and grounded in. We might respond quickly, that we were rooted in the Word; believing, we taught what the apostles taught. I think, some of us, have already discovered, that some of what we were told, was perhaps rooted in tradition; or rooted in the commandments of men. I feel today, that if many of us had been truly rooted and grounded, first, in the love of Christ, our attitude and judgment of others, may have had a different tone. Like one particular church, many of us, left our first love. And a lot of us, can’t even explain or name, what that first love was.

True comprehension, belongs to all the saints. The breadth, length, depth and height, of what this is all about, comes from the love of Christ. That, is what we were meant to be rooted and grounded in. It is stated here, in this text, that the love of Christ, passeth knowledge. And the next few words, answers a serious question. Why, are we not filled, with all the fullness of God; like we are supposed to be. It’s because, we are not, fully rooted and grounded in love. If we were, we would not fight one another as we do. If we are truly planted in the Word, we will love as He loved. He, is the Word.

Robert Blackburn