Shallow Waters

(1 Corinthians 2:10) But unto us God revealed [them] through the Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

A dear friend recently spoke excitedly about a new book she had been introduced to. I didn’t catch the title but from her brief description it sounded not unlike many other self-help books churned out annually and sold by the truckload to folks desperately seeking motivation, meaning and purpose to their lives. My friend told me she would loan it to me when she was finished with this book purportedly filled first page to last with nuggets of wisdom for formulating a more satisfying life.

I’ve thought about this for several days now. It has bothered me and I couldn’t discern why. When I finally did sort it out I was then faced with the dilemma of how I would tell my friend, if at all, what I think. I used to avoid these kinds of potential confrontations or speaking out on a conviction. Firstly, because I hardly ever find satisfaction in making someone else uncomfortable with my personal POV but mostly because, to my knowledge, I have never changed anyone’s mind to my way of thinking, so, at the very least, it seems like wasted breath. But I am older and, at this stage of my life, sometimes it smacks more of cowardice than discretion to remain silent. So, if my friend mentions the book again, this is what I will tell her–with affection, of course:

The world is and always has been, full of man’s wisdom. No one loves inspirational quotes from sage minds better than I. I include them in almost everything I write. Words that lift up, thoughts and concepts that turn and propel us toward right thinking come from all cultures, all religions, and all manner of intellectual sources. A good thought, for example, The Golden Rule is not unlike a law of physics. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you stands universally unchallenged as sound advice for any functional civilization that is interested in its own best-case scenario. Interpretations and reworded versions of this law spring from nearly every religion in history. Why? Well, for one thing it works. But the concept in itself, even though Jesus Christ said it as eloquently as possible, cannot save civilization. Not even if it became a written law of the land in every nation on earth.

Why?

Because it isn’t enough. This and a whole library of books full of wise concepts is not enough. There is something else needing to be recognized. Good concepts are only the beginning of what is true about humanity and what humans require to be enriched with wisdom to the point of wise decision-making and prudent behavior. It is like the shallows where the ocean thins out to land. The never still waters are certainly powerful and compelling, like the tide that pulls, pushes and reshapes the shoreline incessantly. But the real power of the tidal shallows springs from the deeper waters out beyond where the greater truths are hidden. That which ends up visible on the beach came from something larger much farther out.

Throughout history, with one precept layered upon another, one religion redesigned and redefined after another, mankind has quested relentlessly to devise and mastermind all manner of systems in which to save itself. From this we can conclude that mankind believes it ought to be saved–from something. But from what…and more to the point, for what is the great question left wanting an answer. We can’t escape death – that’s programmed into life itself. So what are we looking for in this search through wise concepts? Heaven on earth? Utopia? Perfect lives? If mankind believes this life on earth is all there is, then I guess seeking the best way to live it is not so bad an idea. But then one has to ask, “perfect” by whose standards? Someone needs to step up and answer that one.

Oh, wait! Someone did. God gave us the answers to these and many more questions through His only begotten Son.

I realize it is infinitely easier to dig out versions of truth in man’s words, in man’s interpretations that carve out and discard the hard parts, the parts that make us uncomfortable and that hold us accountable. But God gave us every good word to live by, every good model of a “perfect” life. It is all there in a book of Scriptures, breathed out precisely as He intended, mysteries, contradictions and all. Like the ocean, the truths therein are deep and wide and we cannot see the bottom or the end. Flotsam on the surface seems disconnected and indefinable until the source hidden beneath is revealed. There is only one way to find more truth, more than just those that wash ashore in the seafoam. You cannot find sunken treasure if you will not venture into the deep water. Greater truths, wisdom that illuminates out beyond mankind’s short life span and narrow vision await discovery.

The caveate is: you’re going to need the one and only way to get out there to the depths.

We can freely choose to remain drifting on a manmade raft in the superficial waters and we will certainly stay lifted up above the sand just beneath us. And we can even feel good about it too because how can we miss what we have never experienced? Perhaps there is a type of comfort where no shocks or surprises or things that challenge what we wish to believe can leap out at us unexpectedly if we can clearly see it coming beneath us and can brace ourselves.

But I tell you this, with great affection, surrendering to Christ is like stepping onto a boat that sails swiftly out straight into the deepest mysteries. This commitment initally does take enormous trust but He keeps us afloat and for our faith and devotion for seeking Him and our wisdom directly from Him, He grants us clarion glimpses of the unfathomable. Man’s good truths or God’s good truths – like choosing between a small wooden dinghy and a five star cruise ship.

Why would I prefer a dingy in the shallows when I could be on an ocean liner out on adventure in the great beyond?

(1 Corinthians 2:4-13) And my speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: (2:5) that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. (2:6) We speak wisdom, however, among them that are full-grown: yet a wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who are coming to naught: (2:7) but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, [even] the [wisdom] that hath been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds unto our glory: (2:8) which none of the rulers of this world hath known: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory: (2:9) but as it is written, Things which eye saw not, and ear heard not, And [which] entered not into the heart of man, Whatsoever things God prepared for them that love him. (2:10) But unto us God revealed [them] through the Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. (2:11) For who among men knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of the man, which is in him? even so the things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God. (2:12) But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is from God; that we might know the things that were freely given to us of God. (2:13) Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth; combining spiritual things with spiritual [words].