Scripture: "And others fell upon the rocky places, where they had not much earth: and straightway they sprang up, because they had no deepness of earth."—MATT. xiii. 5.
The seed sown upon the rocky places where the soil was superficial sprang up quickly, but it withered as quickly because there was no deepness of earth. We have here a striking picture of so much religion which begins well, but which does not endure. The Christian needs a deeper life. Let your whole life be an entrance into that love which passeth knowledge. In Ephesians iii. 17-19, St. Paul prays "that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend what is the depth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God." He prays that Christians may stand rooted first in the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, realizing and acknowledging that the depth of this love passeth knowledge. He believes it possible for the soul of a Christian to be so rooted in this love that he may be filled with all the fulness of God in such measure as may be granted to a saint upon earth.
And how may we attain to this? "I bow my knees unto the Father." The way to remain rooted in love is in humble prayer upon your knees before God. Furthermore, "That He would grant yon according to the riches of His glory"—great indeed, and wonderful—"that ye may be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inward man." Only in the life that knows the powerful working of the Spirit is such a life rooted in love possible. And yet more: "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." The most important is that Christ in His everlasting love shall dwell in you every day, insuring a life ever more deeply rooted in the love of Him who gave Himself for us.
I beseech you, dear child of God, take time to bow before the Lord in prayer, and thus meditate upon, and appropriate, these words. Do not grudge time or trouble. Commune with the Christ who loved you with the same love with which the Father loved Him, that so you may get an insight into the greatness of the condescension of that love to you.
