Deeper Water

At the risk of boring everyone with stories about the beach in Destin, I have one more. One afternoon while walking along the beach, I was noticing the small fish swimming next to the shore. There was hundreds of little tiny fish swimming all along the shore with a few slightly larger fish mixed in. Just a few feet out from the shore the fish got significantly larger, but there were no really big fish that close to shore. Later in the day my wife and I were able to watch three dolphins swimming around and jumping. It was really fun to watch. So, what’s the point? Big fish don’t swim in swallow water.

You see, it is okay for small fish to swim near the shore where it is safe for them to swim, but larger more mature fish should be swimming in the deeper water. The deeper water is where the large fish can thrive and survive. The question for you and me is this. How big of a fish are you? Spiritually speaking? As we grow in the Spirit we should venture out into deeper waters.

Deeper waters bring with them more risk, but also more rewards. In the deeper water you will be faced with more challenges, but you will also be faced with more opportunities. We have this promise from God, “you will not be tested beyond your ability”.

There is another reason to swim out in the deeper water and that is where the real blessings of Christianity are found. In order for the dolphins to show off their jumps and flips they must be in deeper water, there is no way they could pull off those moves next to the shore in ankle deep water. The same is true for you and me. If you and I want to see amazing things in our life, then we must trust God and venture out into spiritually deeper waters.,

Right now some are asking, “where is the deeper water and in what way is it different from where I am right now?” If you think about it you already know the answer to that question. Maybe you have sat in church all your life and heard stories about men and women going various places in world on a mission trip and you have thought to yourself, “I wish I could do that some day”. Or, you have always wanted to be able to share you faith with your friends, but you don’t because you are “not sure what to say” or you are “not confident in your ability”.
Maybe you want to help plant a church, or join a team who is already planting a church. Maybe you want to write a book that would encourage others to follow Jesus or just give people in the world an encouraging word from God. Maybe you have always wanted to volunteer to work in a soup kitchen or shelter. Maybe you have a desire to help children learn to read. Maybe you have always wanted to share your resources with total strangers and bless their lives in amazing ways in the name of Jesus Christ. Maybe you have always wanted to start your own business and run it with Christian values and principles.

I am not sure what is on your list of things you would do, if you just had a little more faith, but each of us have something on our list. Today I want you know this – Jesus is calling you and me to join him in deeper waters so you and I can experience all the joys and blessings of being a Christ follower. Go-ahead step out there “O you of little faith” and just see what the Lord does in your life.

Love God. Go Love Others.