OUR DAILY BREAD : ROOTS OR SHOOTS?

[cimi]

September 2
Friday


ROOTS OR SHOOTS?

READ:
Matthew 13:1-9
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Because they had
no root they withered
away.
__Matthew 13:6
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In the life of trees, one key to survival is having more roots than shoots. In his book Oak: The Frame of Civilization, author William Bryant Logan says, "If a tree puts on a lot of top growth and few roots, it is liable to be weak-wooded and sort-lived....
If a tree puts down a great deal of roots and adds shoots more slowly, however, it is liable to be long-lived and more resistant to stress and strain."

People and organizations can be like trees. The rise to prominence is exhilarating, but anything that puts up shoots faster than it puts down roots is fragile and in danger of breaking, falling, or dying.

Jesus used a similar analogy in His parable of the sower. People who hear the Word and receive it joyfully are like seed sown on stony places; they spring up quickly but endure only a short time because they have no roots (Matt. 13:6,20-21).

Roots aren't at all glamorous, but they are the source of our strength. If our roots go deep in the knowledge of God (Jer. 9:24) and our lives are "hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3), we'll be strong, resistant to blight, and more likely to survive the storms of adversity.

How deep are your roots? __Julie Ackerman Link
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````````Lord, keep me from being envious of the beautiful and````````
````````the seemingly powerful. May I use Your resources to`````````
`````````put down roots that will make me strong rather than`````````
```````````growing branches to make me attractive. Amen.`````````
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The roots of stability come from being grounded
in God's Word and prayer.

**************Today's Bible Reading __ Matthew 13:1-9*************

1 On the same day Jesus
went out of the house and
sat by the sea. 2 And great
multitudes were gathered
together to Him so that He
got into a boat and sat; and
the whole multitude stood
on the shore. 3 Then He
spoke many things to them
in parables, saying:
"Behold, a sower went out
to sow. 43 And as he sowed,
some seed fell by the
wayside; and the birds came
and devoured them. 5 Some
fell on stony places, where
they did not have much
earth; and they immediately
sprang up because they had
no depth of earth. 6 But
when the sun was up they
were scorched, and because
they had no root they
withered away. 7 And some
fell among thorns, and the
thorns sprang up and
choked them. 8 But others
fell on good ground and
yielded a crop: some a
hundredfold, some sixty,
some thirty. 9 He who has
ears to hear, let him hear!"

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

In Matthew 13, the gospel writer gives us a significant block of
teaching that christ delivered on the nature of the kingdom of
heaven. There are seven different parables in this chapter, the first
of which is the parable of the sower and the soils (today's Bible
reading). The lesson continues with the parables of the tares among
the wheat, the mustard seed, the leaven, the hidden treasure, the
pearl of great price, and the fish net. In the midst of this extended
teaching time, Jesus also clarified His reason for teaching in parables
(vv. 10-17). __Bill Crowder