#5 Where Am I Heading?
 

Bloom Where You're Planted
 

Continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
(Colossians 2:6-7)
 

    Sometimes the Milwaukee Bucks frustrate me. They'll start out a game with a rush and find themselves up by twenty points. Then somebody, somewhere, suggest they "protect the lead.@
  You know what happens. They change tactics, deviating from the way they began, and soon they're in deep, deep trouble.
    The Bucks aren't the only ones liable to do this sort of thing. Most athletic teams, and we Christians, are prone to falling into the same trap. We trust Christ to be our Lord and Savior, and somewhere along the way we change tactics. We forget how we began. And then we're in trouble.
    Paul encourages believers to continue in their walk with the Lord the same way they began. To do that, we've got to be clear how we started. Notice how Paul said it: "Just as you receive Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him.@ The word translated "live@ here is really the word for "walk.@ I start out by acknowledging his mastery. I acknowledge his rule one step at a time. When that happens, I begin to bloom where I'm planted.
    Can you think of anyone who is not blooming, or looks kind of withered? They need a ministry of encouragement. "Or maybe that's what's wrong with me,@ you say. "I remember getting planted, and I remember receiving Christ, but I guess I didn't continue as I started. I guess I didn't bloom where I was planted.@
  Be encouraged. Press on! And you do that by developing as you are instructed, Paul says - being "strengthened in the faith as you were taught.@
  If you started out being taught Christ Jesus as Lord, don't deviate from that. It's basically all you need to know. All kinds of people will come with all sorts of other stuff, but don't move one inch from the fundamental truth that you were taught: Christ Jesus as Lord. You received Christ Jesus as Lord. Now continue as you started. Bloom where you're planted. Be "strengthened...as you were taught.@
    Finally, Paul says, make sure you are overflowing with thanksgiving. The picture here is of a river overflowing its banks.
    When you go deep in Christ, get involved in a group that encourages you, and start encouraging others, you'll have so much to be thankful for that your banks will overflow. And you'll find people gathering around those banks to be encouraged themselves. Then you can all bloom together.
    Do you know someone who needs to be encouraged? What can you do to help?
 

~Stuart Briscoe~