A few years ago, I was reading an article about the human soul from a Jewish perspective, and I was struck by the following phrase, “The root of the soul is God.” These words resonated within me as truth, particularly in light of the creation account. The Word says that God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and man became a living being (Genesis 2:7). While the rest of creation was formed through God’s speech, God bestowed humanity with a little piece of Himself in order to bring us to life.
Yet to have a little piece of the Eternal One isn’t such a little thing when we really stop to think about it. Our humanity enshrouds a potent drop of the Divine. Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit maintains the connection between the human soul and God, enabling us to be extensions of Him in the earth. How amazing!
Although we cannot see our souls, it is much like the idea of a seed that is planted, sprouts roots, and steadily grows into a tree. A tree’s origins as a small seed can often seem like a distant memory. However, that seed is still a present reality in the life of the tree. The small seed contained all of the genetic information necessary to bring the full-grown tree into existence. Essentially, the tree is an extension of a tiny yet mighty seed.
In the midst of a fallen world, this truth can embolden us if we’re able to grasp ahold of it. We may more frequently focus on our human fragility and failings, but the miracle in the midst of our imperfections is that a small seed of the Divine resides within us. When we are willing to tap into our connection with God through the Holy Spirit, He is able to strengthen our inner being with His power (Ephesians 3:14).
I often tap into this overcoming power when I choose to view my circumstances through the lens of my identity as an extension or child of God. How does the all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-loving God view my current problems? Of course, my problems quickly dwarf in size when I remember who I’m seated in heavenly places with (Ephesians 2:6). To know that I was created by and am held by perfect love is empowering, for it opens my heart to receive the character, wisdom, knowledge—the very fullness—of God.
Ephesians 3:14-19 (NIV) For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 2:6-7 (NIV) And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
[“Minding Our Roots“ originally posted on Waiting in the Wings, reposted in its entirety with permission.]