What does it take to be "rooted"?

This morning I started doing a personal bible study on the book of Colossians. I have always said that this is one of my favorite books, but wanted to make sure that I studied the mess out of it before I committed to that. So in the first chapter, it talks about (in verse 6) bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives. It also talks about producing good fruit. LOTS of fruit actually.

One of the partner passages to look up for further reading was the Parable of the Sower. If you're not familiar with it, Jesus talks about the farmer who is scattering seeds when some fell on or around soil that would eventually not help them grow. Some fell in places where they would whither up and die because they were not rooted.

Mackay and I have been talking a lot about wanting the youth to be "rooted", and t he more I thought about it, the more I thought about those who fall away from their faith and those who truly stick with it...those that are rooted. Then I began to think about what it takes to be rooted. Is it reading your bible every once in a while? Or going to church and sunday school? How do you end up in good soil and able to produce good crop?

First, I think it is important to find some time to do some sort of study on your own. As Christians, we love to talk about our Quiet Time. It's that golden 15 minutes that strengthens our faith. 15 minutes: that's 1/2 of any given TV show, 1/8 of the time you spend on social networking sites, 1/28 of the time you spend at school (on an average day)...let's face it, 15 minutes is nothing! But it's everything at the same time. It's that time that will get you to sit down, uninterrupted and READ your bible, sit in silence, talk to God...anything.

Next, I think it's important to have accountability. Your faith is your own, but if you try to do this on your own, you won't succeed. There are so many distractions, so many things to pull you away from your faith. What you need is a friend to talk about it with. To share struggles and thoughts. Some find with one friend, others find it in several. In the Fall, we will start having small groups for different grades. We want you to be a part of them so that you can be rooted.

This brings me to the next part of "being rooted". I believe that it's important to surround yourself with good people: people you can relate to, people who uplift you, and most importantly - people who support you in your faith. You want to be around people who bear fruit. If you surround yourself by people who do not have these characteristics, chances are, you will become just like them.

These things are important, but that's not all it takes. Going to church (being involved in that community of believers), taking part in different ministries, and going to Sunday School are important. They set the foundation for your faith, which is so important. But when you get older and head off to college, those things may not stick. Getting rooted now is important and our hope is to teach one another how to do that.