When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break (Luke 5:4-6).

When we go deeper in Christ, we “catch” a lot more from Him. When we deepen our one-on-one intimacy with Him, we become better equipped to find the purposes and provisions that He has prepared for us.

So, what hinders us from going deeper? A key culprit is our susceptibility to having our hearts overcharged with the cares of this life. In His day, the Lord Jesus warned His disciples to pay attention and be on guard, lest their hearts became weighed down by self-indulgence and worldly pleasures (on one hand) and the anxieties of life (on the other)[1][1].

If self-indulgence, worldly pleasures, and anxieties were snares at that time, they are even more so these days, when the pace of life is faster, the number of activities the average individual is involved in is greater, and self-focus is the norm. To some degree, overcoming the tendency to be overly immersed in the cares and pleasures of this life is the challenge of our age.

There is much more for us to attain in Christ, hence, the Lord, by His Spirit, beckons us to come up higher. In His presence, we will experience calm—like fishes in the deep blue sea—and behold divine treasures. There, we will be changed into His image from glory to glory.

But how do we experience His presence amidst the topsy turviness of daily living? A good place to start is to intensify our efforts to spend quality time with Him each day. A second step is to trim our involvement in things that add no real value to our lives, as these only increase the noise in our souls. We need not live like recluses, but getting rid of excesses that dull our spiritual senses—the kind of activities that are “lawful but not expedient”—will help to maintain inner serenity and facilitate our spiritual journey.

Thirdly, and most importantly, we must ask the Lord for an abundance of grace—grace to stay above the drowning floods of this present age, grace to grow and become the mature body of Christ.[2]

As we take these steps, we will find ourselves soaring above the noise and distractions of our time. We will live this life but not be drowned by it. We will maintain a posture of worship to our God day in, day out.

I’m often intrigued by the fact that a saint like Daniel who was a leader in Babylon had significant responsibilities within his secular job but maintained a heart of deep communion with God.[3] How did he achieve this? Certainly not by a lukewarm, compromising lifestyle. The Bible tells us that Daniel fervently sought the Lord and lived openly for Him. In return, the Lord rewarded him not only with signs and wonders but also with depth in his spiritual life.

May God help us to rise above the drowning tide of our age and go deeper in Christ. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

 

[1] Luke 21:34

[2] Ephesians 4:15

[3] Daniel 2:48–49; 6:1–4