8我们已经在基督这丰富、肥沃的土壤里生了根。我们既在祂里面生根,就应当继续吸取祂的丰富。树木如何经由根从土壤里吸取滋养的元素,我们也该把基督的丰富吸收进来。……一棵树的长大在于经由根所吸收的养分。我们既已生根到基督里面,就该天天实际地留在祂里面。我们在经历中,必须一直在基督里生根。然而,我们若在饮食这样的事上忘了基督,在经历上就没有生根于基督。我们进餐的时候,也许忘了基督。饭后,我们可能花一点时间祷告。但甚至在祷告的开头,我们还没有在实际并经历上在基督里生根,因为我们可能祷告许多不必要的事物。但在主的怜悯和忍耐里,祂一直等到我们开始真正的祷告;然后我们就在经历上吸取基督的丰富。然而,我们祷告的时间结束之后,也许没有继续消化我们从祂所吸收的。照着主在约翰十五章所说的,就是我们可能没有住在祂里面。
8We are rooted in Christ, who is the rich, fertile soil. Having been rooted in Him, we should go on to absorb His riches. As a tree absorbs nourishing elements from the soil through its roots, we also should absorb the riches of Christ into us…A tree’s growth depends upon the nourishment it absorbs through its roots. Since we have been rooted into Christ, we should remain in Him in a practical way day by day. In our experience we need to stay rooted in Christ. However, if we forget Christ in matters such as eating and drinking, we are not rooted in Him in our experience. When we eat our food, we may not remember Christ. After our meal we may spend some time in prayer. But even at the beginning of our prayer, we may not actually and experientially be rooted in Christ, for we may pray many unnecessary things. But in His mercy and patience, the Lord waits until we begin to pray in a genuine way. Then in our experience we absorb Christ’s riches. However, when our time of prayer is finished, it may happen that we do not go on to assimilate what we have absorbed of Him. According to the Lord’s words in John 15, it could be that we do not abide in Him.