Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Galatians 6:10 (NIV)
EU•AN•GE•LION (YOO-AN-GEL-EE-ON) · εὐαγγέλιον — Good News
Galatians 6:10
DAY 5 OF 5
Rooted to Rise
The depth of your roots determines the height of your rise — and your capacity to lift others
Rooted · 5 Days
Galatians 6:10
Rooted to Rise
“Via Sacra, Roman Forum — road of history” — Unknown (Roman), Ancient
GREEK
καιρος
/kairos/(kye-ROSS)
opportune time, appointed season, decisive moment for action
Every moment is a potential kairos — a God-given window to do good. Deep roots enable us to recognize and seize these moments rather than letting them pass.
Paul’s ‘as we have opportunity’ (kairos) suggests that every day is filled with God-given moments to serve — not rare occurrences but daily possibilities for those whose roots have prepared them to act.
RELATED
χρονος
From Survival to Service
Immaculee forgave her family’s killer in prison and now travels worldwide teaching forgiveness, healing, and faith. The roots that had sustained her through 91 days of terror now enabled her to rise and lift others. Her story did not end with survival but began with service.
The depth of her roots determined the height of her rise, and the strength of her foundation enabled her to become a foundation for others. What had been planted in darkness was now bearing fruit in the light, touching lives across continents and cultures. Standing face to face with the man who had killed her family, she discovered the truth of Paul’s words: the only thing that truly matters is faith expressing itself through love.
Immaculee’s story shows that being rooted is not just for personal survival — it prepares us to rise and become a foundation for others. The deeper the roots, the greater the capacity to serve.
Immaculee forgave her family’s killer in prison and now travels worldwide teaching forgiveness, healing, and faith.
“Resurrection — Isenheim Altarpiece” — Matthias Grünewald, 1512–16
Roots That Lift Others
Being rooted is not a private accomplishment — it is preparation for public service. The depth of your roots determines your capacity to lift others. Your story of faithfulness becomes someone else’s reason to hope.
The phrase ‘as we have opportunity’ suggests that opportunities to do good are not rare occurrences but daily possibilities for those who have eyes to see them. Immaculee’s deep roots enabled her to recognize opportunities that others might miss — chances to speak forgiveness into situations of hatred, to bring hope into circumstances of despair, to demonstrate love in the face of evil. Her rootedness gave her the stability to reach out to others without being shaken by their responses.
Doing good to all people requires a kind of spiritual strength that can only come from deep roots. It means loving those who cannot love us back, serving those who cannot serve us in return, blessing those who may curse us in response. This is not natural human behavior — it is the supernatural fruit of a life deeply rooted in God’s love, sustained by His grace, and empowered by His Spirit.
The depth of your roots determines not just your ability to survive your own storms but your capacity to help others weather theirs. Your rootedness is not just for your benefit — it is for the benefit of everyone whose life you touch.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Galatians 5:6 (NIV)
The Only Thing That Counts
Paul’s declaration that ‘the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love’ is not a theological abstraction but a practical reality that transforms how we see and treat other people. When our faith is deeply rooted, it naturally expresses itself through love that transcends human categories and divisions. All the external differences that had fueled the Rwandan genocide — ethnicity, politics, tribal identity — became meaningless in the presence of love that flows from deep faith. Immaculee’s ability to forgive her family’s killer was not the result of human effort or positive thinking — it was faith expressing itself through love. Her deep roots in God’s forgiveness enabled her to extend forgiveness to others. This kind of love is the ultimate test of our rootedness. Anyone can love those who love them back. But faith expressing itself through love enables us to love our enemies, serve those who oppose us, forgive those who have wounded us deeply. This is the love that changes the world, one heart at a time.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
The circumcision debate in Galatia was about who was ‘in’ and who was ‘out’ — the same tribal thinking that fuels division today. Paul’s radical claim was that all such categories are meaningless compared to faith expressing itself through love.
Immaculee has authored multiple books translated into dozens of languages and spoken in over 100 countries. Her ministry of forgiveness, born in a tiny bathroom during genocide, has reached millions of people worldwide — a harvest from seeds sown in the darkest circumstances imaginable.
BRIDGE TO CHRIST
ANCIENT TRUTH
Paul told the Galatians that the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love — and that every moment is an opportunity to do good to all people.
Immaculee’s 91 days in darkness prepared her for a worldwide ministry of light. The marks she bears are not symbols of defeat but credentials of victory — qualifications for a service only she could offer.
MODERN APPLICATION
Your struggles have not been wasted. Every trial weathered in faith, every difficulty faced with hope, every pain endured with love has deepened your roots and prepared you to serve others in ways a comfortable life never could.
NEW TESTAMENT ECHO
Paul concluded: ‘I bear on my body the marks of Jesus’ (Galatians 6:17). Our scars become credentials, our struggles become qualifications, our testimony becomes someone else’s lifeline.
“Obj Tzitzit Blue Thread” — Generated, 2026
From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.
Galatians 6:17-18 (NIV)
bear on my body the marks of Jesusgrace of our Lord Jesus Christbe with your spirit
COMMISSIONING
What marks do you bear from your journey with Christ? How might God want to use your story — your struggles, your trials, your experiences of His faithfulness — to encourage someone else?
- What opportunities do you have today to do good to others, flowing from your rootedness in God’s love?
- Who in your life needs to see faith expressing itself through love right now?
- How has your own experience of being rooted prepared you to help someone else find their footing?
PRAYER
(personal)Posture: commissioning
Lord Jesus, thank You for this week of learning what it means to be rooted in You. Thank You for Immaculee’s example of faith that remained strong even in the darkest circumstances. Help me to sink my roots so deep into Your love, Your truth, and Your character that no storm can shake me. Use the marks I bear from my own journey to help others find their footing in You. May my life be a testimony to Your faithfulness, and may my roots enable me to rise and lift others. Make me an instrument of Your love in a divided world. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with my spirit. Amen.
“Sym Fish Terracotta Linocut” — Generated, 2026
TAKEAWAY
I will look for three specific opportunities today to do good to others, letting these acts of service flow from my rootedness in God’s love. Before this week ends, I will share my story with someone who needs to hear it — letting the marks I bear become a testimony of God’s faithfulness.
LEAVING AT THE CROSS
- The belief that my struggles have been pointless and my scars are signs of defeat
- The hesitation to share my story because I think it is not dramatic enough to matter
- The self-focus that keeps me from seeing the opportunities to serve that surround me
RECEIVING FROM THE CROSS
- The truth that my marks are credentials for service, not symbols of failure
- The courage to let my faith express itself through love, even toward those who have hurt me
- The calling to rise from deep roots and lift others — because that is what roots are for
CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
FOR REFLECTION
- How has this week’s journey through Immaculee’s story changed your understanding of what it means to be rooted?
- What is the relationship between the depth of your roots and your ability to serve others?
- What marks from your own journey could become a testimony that encourages someone else?
FOR ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNERS
- Share how this week has deepened your understanding of being rooted in Christ
- Identify one person you will share your story with before the week ends
- Ask each other: ‘What kind of soil are you cultivating in your heart, and what needs to change for your roots to go deeper?’
FURTHER READING
RELATED SCRIPTURES
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
The God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
Jeremiah 17:7-8
Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.
FOR DEEPER STUDY
bookLeft to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza
The full account of how faith under extreme pressure became the foundation for a worldwide ministry of forgiveness and healing
Finished reading? Mark this day read.