A forest of quaking aspens in Utah is known by the name, Pando, meaning, “I spread.”
It’s also called “the Trembling Giant.”
This is because all the trees in this 106-acre forest are genetically identical and are believed to have a single, combined root system.
In essence, this forest is a single tree with 40,000 trunks, each of which appears to be a separate tree from an aboveground perspective.
This is the way it is with us as believers in Christ.
We are all genetically identical and have a single, combined root system spiritually.
We read this in Colossians 2:7,
“having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.”
The phrase “having been firmly rooted” is a perfect participle in the Greek and can literally be translated “having been firmly rooted with the present result that you are firmly anchored.”
Our roots as believers are firmly rooted and anchored in Christ.
Since we are in Christ, we have His nature.
We have “become partakers of the divine nature” because we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and are recreated as a new man in our human spirit.
All believers have His nature and share in the same root system which is Christ Himself.
The rest of the verse tells us what should follow from this.
We are now to be constantly built up in Him and have faith solidly based on His Word.
If we are growing believers, we will overflow in gratitude towards Him.
The Japanese introduced a tree to the world that is called a Bonsai tree.
It is measured in inches instead of feet, as other trees are measured.
It is not allowed to reach anywhere near its full growth potential but instead grows in a stunted miniature form.
The reason for it growing in stunted form is that when it first stuck its head out of the ground as a sapling, the owner pulled it out of the soil and tied off its main tap root and some of its branch feeder roots and then replanted it.
By doing this, its grower deliberately stunted its growth by limiting the roots ability to spread out and grow deep and take in enough of the soils nutrients for a normal growth.
God will never stunt our growth in Christ, but we can, if do not go deep in Christ.
Let’s grow deep in Christ by taking in all His nutrients that cause our growth in Him!
Blessings!
Pastor Ken Keeler, Director of Church Ministries