Deep rather than wide

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Selfcare”

Our Bible verse for today: “God has made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated.” Ecclesiastes 7:29 (TEV)

Our thought for today: “Deep rather than wide”

Almost thirty years ago, I came across a little book that was ultimately to change my life in profound ways. The title is “Intimacy with God” by pastor and author Chuck Swindoll. It’s a tiny book that chronicles lessons Chuck learned personally during a time in his life when he withdrew, slowed down, and spent extended time reflecting and renewing.

To give you a taste of the kinds of insights the book contains, this is how Chuck begins chapter one: “Deep things are intriguing. Deep jungles. Deep water. Deep caves and canyons. Deep thoughts and conversations… There is nothing like depth to make us dissatisfied with superficial, shallow things. Once we have delved below the surface and had a taste of the marvels and mysteries of the deep, we realize the value of taking the time and going to the trouble of pluming those depths … This is especially true in the spiritual realm. God invites us to go deeper rather than to be content with surface matters.”

That thought changed my life. I decided I wanted to go deep instead of wide in all of life. Rather than doing lots of things in a superficial manner, I wanted to do fewer things but go deep with them. First, in my life with God I wanted to spend the time to go deep with Him. Second, in my life as a husband and as a father I resolved to simplify and slow our lives down to increase the quality of our family life. Going deep also involved my life as a pastor. I starting asking God for a smaller church with fewer people so rather than touching a lot of people a little, I could go deeper with a smaller group. I wanted to go deep instead of wide in all of life, beginning with God and then extending out to everything and everyone else.

Doing that requires slowing down and simplifying across the spectrum of life. The more we are involved in and the faster we move, the more superficial we must be to fit it all in. This is about selfcare, but it’s also about everyone-else-care too. Everyone else in your life, especially those closest to you, will benefit from you going deeper instead of wider.

We will explore this idea more tomorrow and I will describe for you a few very large changes I made in my own life thanks to this concept of deep rather than wide. But as we close this morning, I want to share with you an admission from Pastor John Mark Comer which he shared in his book “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry.” “All of my worst moments come when I’m in a hurry.” In other words, that faster he goes and the more he tries to do, the less effective he becomes in all of them. How about you? Are you moving too fast through life, trying to do too much? Do you need to slow down a little and go deeper rather than wider?

God bless,
Pastor Jim

(If you like what you’re reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

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