The Overflowing

UV 4178/10000 The Overflowing Having been deeply rooted ( in Him) and now being continually built up in Him and (becoming increasingly more) established in your faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing in it with gratitude. Colossians 2 v 7 The image in this uni-verse speaks of a metaphor of spiritual gardening Jesus restores us to the good root in Him. He is both Gardener and Root. He plants us and grafts us onto His good root. The good root has the power to overrule and erase all the ill effects of our natural roots, our genetic roots, the influence of our upbringing, our past and habits. We are to grow downward and deeper into Him even as we are growing upward and outward. We grow in this manner only when we daily intake His word, His teachings and practice it in our lives. Since we are saved by grace and not out of our own merits or efforts, our hearts ought to be always overflowing with joy and gratitude towards the Lord. We need to move from superstition, the superficial to the superlative- the perfection that comes from maturity of faith in Christ. If the root is good and healthy, the shoot will grow erect and the branches of our lives will spread out to capture the sunlight of His righteousness. We are planted in Christ or established in faith when we bear fruit in abundance for the glory and pleasure of the Lord- the fruit of the spirit, implying love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control. Hence, our cups are not half full or half empty but always overflowing with joy, the fruit of the spirit and with gratitude to Jesus who made it all possible. Since we have this assurance of salvation in Christ, we overflow with hope, with joy, with goodness, with everything positive and true in life. We are not to be bitter or negative or ungrateful but acknowledge our eternal debt to the Lord that we are spiritually alive in Him. Most of the fruit of the spirit are an outpouring of the mouth and hence, self control plays a role in filtering out anything negative, unwholesome, unworthy of the Lord and allowing only what is edifying others and pleasing to the Lord to emanate from our mouths. It is no doubt the most difficult of challenges to control our tongues but it is possible as the Holy Spirit establishes, settles, strengthens us, enables us.