Wild Olive Shoot

Salvation 2025 | Day 17

“If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root,”
Rom. 11:17 NIV

A wild olive shoot is a shoot that is cut out from a tree which is not cultivated. They are usually wild in nature compared to the cultivated ones. In this context, the wild olive shoot refers to the gentiles who are not part of the natural descents of Israel. The Bible describes gentiles as being far away, not being a people, gone astray, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenant of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

Can a wild shoot become part of a cultivated root? Will it not corrupt the whole tree? Certainly not. Rom. 11:16 tells us that “if the root is holy, so are the branches”. Verse 18 also tells us that “we (wild olive shoot) do not support the root, but the root supports us”. This talks about the redemptive power in Christ, how Christ transforms us from within.

Christ is able to save us to the uttermost that come unto God by Him. There is no past so strong, no state so wrong, no sin we bore that is beyond Christ’s redemptive force. We should not suppose that we have gone too far or too deep in sin so that God cannot save us. O, that we may comprehend the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that is readily available for our salvation.

“Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God

Oh, it chases me down, fights til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine

I couldn’t earn it, I don’t deserve it, still You give yourself away

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God.”

If God did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us, shall He not with Him also give us everything that pertains unto life and godliness? He brings we who are dead in sin unto life in righteousness, that we may no longer bear the fruits of the flesh but rather the fruit of the spirit. Christ delivers us from the power of sin that we may no longer be slaves to sin but slaves to righteousness.

O, that all who labor and are heavily laden will come to Jesus. He can and will transform you. When your strength and will fails in your fight with sin, Jesus stands with an outstretched arm ready and willing to fight for you. Jesus overcame sin and He wants to do the same for you.

Further reading: Isa 53:6, Rom 8:32, Gal 5:19–23, Eph 2:1–23, 3:18–19, Heb 7:25, 1 Pet 2:10, 2 Pet 1:3