I finally, absolutely have to say something about this! What does it mean to go deep?Â
It has become common in our church culture to make reference to “going deep” spiritually and in Bible study and “going deep” often is a prerequisite for choosing where one attends worship. Our choice of church should be less about what I want and more about where God is leading me to partner with others to accomplish the GREAT COMMISSION. Its not about ME. It is about OTHERS. Is it possible that our idea and definition of what “going deep” is has been imposed upon us by a “church culture” bent on gaining knowledge and a “new” biblical insight over and above APPLYING biblical principles to our daily life?Â
Many people define “going deep” according to the “wow” factor created by someone whose primary purpose is to teach the Bible to people in such a way to increase their biblical base of knowledge. Many people in this category will define their church experience according to what new insight they learned that they haven’t thought of before. Many define their church experience according to the number of new greek or hebrew words they learned from the bible teacher.Â
Here is the danger of defining “going deep” according to these characterizations:Â
The Apostle Paul spoke in 1 Corinthians 8 of the fact that “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up”.Â
I believe that going deep is less about confusing hearers with an incredible “insight” and more about leading people to apply biblical principles to their daily life. That is deep! Leading and teaching people principles from God’s word that lead, teach, motivate and inspire them to love others is deep!
Jesus taught us that deep is “loving your enemy and praying for them”, “turning the other cheek”, “going the extra mile” and “loving your neighbor as yourself”. Now, that is DEEP!
Pastor Shawn Lovejoy of Mountain Lake Church in Cumming, GA gives some additional insight into this dilemma of “going deep” in one of his posts. I promise it is worth the read. After reading it, shut down the computer, go outside and find someone you can love!Â
“GO DEEP”.
