“Follow the Leader” is more than just a child’s game. The newsstands are filled with magazines featuring leaders from the business world, entertainment and sports. Our young people mimic the lifestyles of role models that do not represent a godly influence.

Young people, however, are not the only ones to be influenced by our culture. We have adults who will commit their lives and fortunes to follow a human being who promises peace, prosperity and some quality of life after death. People will become devout followers of false promises.

We have been given a book of truth about the One we follow. It helps us develop a life of devotion to Jesus Christ through a knowledge of His Word. The only way to grow is to get to know Jesus better, and the way to get to know Him better is to learn more about Him, and the way to learn more about Him is to experience His Word. Salvation is free. Discipleship is expensive. You can get to heaven for nothing, courtesy of the cross. But it costs a lot to get heaven down to you. God has already given you, free of charge, eternal life. But to get eternal life operating in history demands the price tag of loving commitment.

You must be devoted to Jesus Christ, and that means you must have roots that run deep. The only way your roots can run deep is for you to make the proper response to the Word of God—to go deeper into the things of God and to take seriously the application of His Word in your life. The difference between a victorious Christian and a defeated Christian is that one has allowed the root of the Word to go deep into the soil of his life, while the other is living on the topsoil and not putting down deep roots. The only way to get deep roots is through the knowledge and application of the Word.