Going deeper into the Christian life
has always been baffling to me; there are endless opinions on its precise meaning.
I supposed it was and is a counter to all the fluff faith or superficiality of
religion expressing itself as something “spiritual.” I realize it is impossible
to achieve any depth with one hand holding onto the values of the world and the
other the hand of God. Let me explain.
Being a professional underwater diver
at one time in my life, I understand a little about depth, atmospheric pressure,
and the risks involved the deeper you descend. I could don my diving gear and
remain in the boat or bob in the water while hanging onto the boat, breathing
in compressed air and going no further, but that would be really odd and a lot of
trouble for nothing. But we are not talking about H2O here but getting below the surface of the water of the Christ-life.
It just seems to me there are a lot of church people who do nothing more than
remain seated in the boat or get their feet wet, but they just won’t let go
of the boat in order to explore and experience the incomparable riches of the
depths both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. As a result, they are only
contented to float or bob on the surface of the ocean of life where the wind
and the waves play havoc with their lives.
Even if the oceanic conditions were
rough and windy on the surface, once I was out of the boat and going below the
surface, the environment radically changed to peace and quiet. Why people “gear
up” or get dressed to come and only sit at church week after week, year after
year or only come to get their feet wet but never go any deeper is a strange
phenomenon to me. Perhaps it’s the fear of letting go or the fear of the unknown; God
knows; we can only speculate.
Genuine Christianity is, figuratively speaking,
the world of the Water of Life, requiring no scuba gear (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) but
the Spirit of God to help us go beyond a surface faith that is moved by the
wind and the waves of the circumstances of life to essentially a blind faith of
unwavering trust. And the cool thing about going deeper in this spiritually
liquid world is that there is no decompression necessary as in underwater
diving due to nitrogen flooding into your bloodstream (nitrogen narcosis); you
can spend unlimited dive time exploring the fathomless depths both of the wisdom
and knowledge of God! The only known side effect is Christ-likeness. Only those
who have the Holy Spirit and can go beyond the surface and descend into the knowledge
of the Holy. Only those who have the Spirit want to break the surface ….
Are you tired of getting spiritually
seasick (conviction) by going through the motions of simply going and sitting
in the boat, rocked by the wind and the waves of the circumstances of life,
when you know relief is just a leap of faith away into the Water of Life? Is
simply getting your feet wet not providing real answers or solutions to life’s
complexities as you tenaciously cling to worldly things for fear of what it
might mean by letting go and seeking solutions without obedience? Do you desire to
go deeper in your pursuit of God? Live by faith and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7). For
the way I see it, we can’t go much deeper than that, moving and having our whole
being in the spiritual liquid of
life, Jesus Christ (Rev 22:17). <><
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