Ephesians 3:17 “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,”
In his prayer for the Lord’s Church and the Children of God, Paul notes that the first blessed result of “Christ” dwelling in our “hearts by faith” is that we are “rooted and grounded in love”! To have this “love” is to have “first” been “loved” by the Lord (I John 4:19). We are told that His “love” for us dates back “before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4) and that it is a “great love” (Ephesians 2:4). We begin to feel and rejoice in this “great love” at the very instant that our Lord gives us Spiritual Birth (John 3:1-8). This “great love” is the internal force that “constraineth us” (II Corinthians 5:14); that is, binds us together with Him, disciplines our service to Him, and motivates us to “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). To be “rooted” is to use the metaphor of a tree that has a deep and well-established root system. During Hurricane Michael (October 2018), we lost nearly all of our trees that were in the path of the Hurricane; but, there are a few that remained because they were well “rooted”; they were ghoulishly stripped of all leaves and most of their branches, but their deep roots held the trunks in place. The next spring, they looked very odd, but little leaves began to pop out and new branches began to grow, because the trees were nourished by their deep root system. The second metaphor is that of a building that has a “grounded” (strong) foundation. Like the trees, the buildings with well “grounded” foundations faired much better than those with weak foundations. Most roofs were blown off or severely damaged, but the well “grounded” foundations held firm. So it is with the Children of God who are “rooted and grounded in love”, they endure through the tribulations (John 16:33) of life; then, when the storms of their tribulations are past, they begin to prosper again in their Lord’s service. Furthermore, this “rooted and grounded … love” radiates upward in loving, worshipful service to our Lord and outward to those around us. This “rooted and grounded … love” is the great witness that we are the Lord’s “disciples”: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:34-35)!