Going Deeper With God

This past week Mike and I went on vacation to Destin, Florida. If anyone is familiar with the area there, you’ll know that the beach is absolutely beautiful. There’s white sand and crystal clear waters. One of our most favorite things to do is snorkel and dive together. So on our second day there, we were snorkeling close to the shore in about 4-5 feet of water. But before I go any further, let's back up a little. Me and God kind of have this thing with sand dollars. A few years ago before I was really following Jesus, I was walking on a beach, and I asked Him if He was with me then He would allow me to find a whole sand dollar. Sand dollars are extremely rare to find whole and in-tact. Usually, you’ll find bits and pieces of them all over the beach but never a whole one. Well, that day, I found one. Fast forward to this past week as Mike and I are snorkeling - I thought I’d ask God the same question. “Lord, if you’re with us now - let us find one”. About 5 minutes later, buried in the sand underwater, was a perfectly in-tact sand dollar. I was so excited to show Mike what I had found and told Him, “Look babe, God IS with us!!”. I can imagine God’s eye roll. Well, we kept asking God things as we swam. Like - “God, are you with Hope Rock church? (this is the amazing church we attend) Allow us to find another one”. A few minutes later we would, and before we knew it, we were in about 15 feet of water. When we finally realized how deep we were, we were a little creeped out. The current was strong and it was moving us along the shoreline pretty fast. Not only that, but when you’re in that deep of water - you don’t really know what might be swimming with you. You kind of just look out under the water and it’s nothing but dark blue, so the unknown is pretty scary. Despite the currents, leaving the comfort of the shoreline, and the fear of the deep unknown - we found hundreds of sand dollars. They were all over the ocean floor - too many to count!

I felt like God was showing me a picture of what it looks like to go deeper with Him. God is longing for us to press into Him more and more, and there is so much of Him He wants us to experience and discover. There’s countless riches left unturned that if we would just go deeper, we would find. But sometimes we struggle to go deeper with God because it can be uncomfortable. Going deeper often requires us to step outside our comfort zones. What’s outside of those comfort zones are a lot of unknowns and we fear them. We are a people that likes to be in control and know what’s going to happen before it happens. We have all these plans and ideas about how we think things should go and when things don’t go according to our plans, we retreat and go back to the shoreline where there’s security and comfort. All the while God is beckoning us to just trust Him.

Living where we do, we’re in a land of plenty and we’ve been deceived. We’ve gotten complacent. We believe that what we have is enough and we’re happy with our temporal satisfactions, our things - finances, securities, health, material possessions, etc. I believe we're wrong and God is calling us towards repentance. Towards the end of Revelation chapter 3, Jesus speaks to the church of Laodicia. In His admonition towards them, He tells them, "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked" (Revelation 3:16-17, NIV).

I have found that there are so many "Christians" in our nation. America is full of them. Christians that attend church, say the right things, pray when its convenient, and check off the "Christian" checklist, but their hearts are far away from God. I was (in a lot more worse of a way) that person. Just like we find bits and pieces of sand dollars scattered along the shoreline - God only finds bits and pieces of our hearts when He looks. And just like we are dissatisfied with those bits and pieces, God is dissatisfied with the bits and pieces of our hearts! He wants our whole heart. He wants us to move away from this attitude of complacency, repent, and truly follow Him. It is one thing to be a christian in a world full of them - it is another thing entirely to surrender your whole heart to Jesus and follow Him completely. There is so much more than what we can see and touch and think we know. We don’t know it until we venture out off the shoreline and into the unknown with God.

It's fascinating to me that in this same message to the lukewarm church of Laodicia, Jesus gives them another chance. He lets them know that there is still time left to turn from their darkened ways, repent, and invite Him in. "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me" (Revelation 3:20, NIV). There is still time left! Be earnest and repent.

I don’t know what’s holding you back from going deeper with God. Maybe it’s something as simple as sleep. You’re not willing to give up a couple of hours of sleep in the morning to meet with Jesus. Maybe God is stirring your heart to move, but you look at the housing market right now and you think there’s no way and you’re not even sure where you would go. Perhaps God is wanting you to stop reading other people’s take on His word and read His word for yourself. I don’t know the area God may be calling you out to, but I do know that if you would just let go and journey out of your comfort zone, out of what you think you know and the plans you’ve made, you’re going to discover a whole new level with your Creator. We are alive and breathing right now to know Jesus more and to make Him known. We can’t do this unless we go deeper with God.