the ocean has its shores

Some live their whole lives in the safety of the shallow end. Some experience the deep and never live in shallows again for the shallows are the much lesser of the two. Neither of these is how we are called to live.

When I say shallows I am referring to the shallow, simple, everyday concerns of life -- eating, drinking, socializing, walking, working. When I say the deep I am referring to the insightful, relational, intimacy with Christ. Sometimes we can be so pompous to think that the everyday concerns of life are of no importance and cannot bring about any fruit for Christ; this is not true. The shallow aspects are just as much of God as the profound aspects. God designed us to be dependent on food, water, human interaction, sleep, and work, and therefore he gave us the ability to bring glory to him in those. So many times I find myself alienating these concerns and thinking of them as lesser and thinking I should not waste any excess time, work, or emotion into them. These aspects of life are essential, in fact they take up a majority of our time so why should they not be used as tools for Christ?

Oswald Chambers put it this way: "It is not your devotion to God that makes you refuse to be shallow, but your wish to impress other people with the fact that you are not shallow, which is a sure sign that you are a spiritual prig....To be shallow is no sign of being wicked, nor is shallowness a sign that there are no deeps: the ocean has a shore.

Jesus walked, talked, ate, slept, and conversed with people of this earth. He used those simple everyday interactions to help build the relationships and prepare people for the depths to come. Now he also did not solely swim in the shallows; many, many times he would go off and swim in the deep in intimacy with his father. Chambers says we are to "never show the deeps to anyone but God." Only God cares about your depths, and if you are to reveal those to anyone else, you are probably doing it out of pride and searching for recognition from people and things of this world. The depths are meant for you and God alone.

Chambers closes with "Determinedly take no one seriously but God, and the first person you find you have to leave severely alone as being the greatest fraud you have ever known, is yourself."

Swim in the shallows. Swim in the deeps.