Talia Biel is a member at Crossroads Church. She is a sincere Jesus follower with a gift for connecting her faith to real life, and for sharing that through her writing. Check out her blog “Holding On To Faith.

Going Deeper (2) by Talia Biel
Not to us, but to Your name, be the glory. 
Last night I kept driving my husband nuts with singing this song over and over again. As I have been reflecting on going deeper last week and this week, this song came to my heart late at night.

The cross before me the world behind
No turning back, raise the banner high
It’s not for me, it’s all for You
Let the heavens shake and split the sky
Let the people clap their hands and cry
It’s not for us, it’s all for You
Not to us, but to Your Name be the glory
Not to us, but to Your Name be the glory

And as I sang it, I sang it like a prayer right from my heart because for someone who wants to go deeper in my walk with Christ. I first have to remember before anything else that it is not about me. It’s so easy to get caught about in the ‘it’s all about me category.’ Once we become too focused in the self-centred category, the whole reasoning for going deeper in the first place is lost. If you want to go deeper, you need to be more Him-focused than I-focused.

I am also learning in order to go deeper in your walk with Christ, you have to want it, the desire to change. Often most of us live in a church where life often looks very different than Sunday. Sunday mornings we come to church, we worship, we do our good deeds, we embrace completely who He is, and then when Monday comes we are no different. We fall back into a cycle of being “ordinary.” (Stay tuned for my next blog on being extraordinary instead of ordinary).

My friend had asked me where all this desire came from of wanting to recently go deeper in my walk with Christ. All l could respond was with this statement. “I want to grow, I can’t settle for this being all there is, I  need to grow deeper in my roots with Jesus in order to become all that He has called me to become.”

Are you “staying on the surface” spiritually, unwilling to get below it, and satisfied with the routine of making do? Staying with the familiar, the place that affords us the most ease and comfort, is spiritually sufficient for some people, but it’s not God’s desire for us. It is not God’s desire for my life. God calls us to draw closer to Him by seeking out a deeper Christian experience than just staying on the surface.

Not everyone is ready to grow deeper, not everyone is ready to let God completely transform their heart, mind and soul. I realized somewhere along my journey that I was complacent in certain areas of my life and it weighed heavily on my heart.  A conviction and promoting in my spirit to move out of my complacency. It’s disheartening because this is how the enemy uses complacency to rob many of us on going deeper, having potential and fulfilling God’s purpose for our lives. We become stuck in our faith, and prefer the mediocre, warm and comfortable lifestyle we are already accustomed to.

I don’t think anyone can say “Talia, you are too deep” anymore because I am already swimming in the depths of the sea trying to feed off spiritual growth as much as I can. Will this desire wear off eventually and become lost somewhere? It could. The enemy would love nothing more for in my own personal life to keep me right where I am at. The victory is knowing that my God is too powerful for a sneaky deceiving serpent.

Look at the story of Luke 5:4 when Jesus instructs Peter and his fellow fishermen to launch into the deep because the best fish can be caught there. He uses so many powerful parables that taught His disciples to follow Him and trust Him the best way they knew how. What is even more amazing is His disciples weren’t perfect by far. They all each had their own flaws and challenges but Jesus overlooked and still used them to bring His salt and light into the world. He uses us just as we are, flaws and all. We just have to want to go from the shore into the deep end if we truly want to go deeper by taking the first step. Even when the deep end can seem scary, and full of uncertainty. We have to hold onto the hope that Jesus is with us in our walk from beginning to end and still calls us to go deeper with Him .