Care for Depth
Care for Depth
All our worship and spirituality lose their value if they are without depth. Therefore, we call everyone to care for the element of depth in their lives, so that their lives may succeed in the spirit and in every field.
Care for Depth
Growth in the spiritual life and perfection in it are not measured by a measure of length or a measure of height, but rather are measured by depth.
Depth is the depth of love toward God and the depth of spiritual feeling within the heart. Therefore, the Lord emphasized this point, saying: “My son, give Me your heart, and let your eyes observe My ways” (Prov. 23:26).
How beautiful is the saying of the Psalm: “All the glory of the king’s daughter is from within” (Ps. 45:13). Although she is “clothed in garments wrought with gold, adorned with many kinds,” yet all her glory is inside—in the depth, in the heart, in the thought, in the feelings…
Care for depth began with Christianity from the very beginning of its preaching.
When the Lord called His disciples, He commanded Peter to cast his nets into the deep, and thus he was able to bring in a great catch. From this we learned a lesson about the importance of depth.
I admire the saying of David in the Psalm: “Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord” (Ps. 130:1). From the depth of my heart and my emotion, from the depth of my faith and trust, from the depth of my need and poverty, from the depth of my weakness and helplessness— from the depth of my feelings I cried to You, with a depth that has its effect with You.
The widow who put in two mites gave us an idea of the depth of giving.
The Lord considered her to have given more than everyone else, not because she gave much, nor because what she gave had great value, but because her giving had depth. She gave all her livelihood, not from her surplus, and preferred others over herself. Thus, the depth of her sacrifice appeared in what she offered.
We also see depth in prayer, appearing in many examples.
The tax collector said one phrase, and by it he went out justified, unlike the long prayer of the Pharisee with its many details. This is because the Lord did not measure the prayer of the tax collector by its length, but by its depth: the depth of contrition and humility, the depth of confession, and the depth of supplication.
Likewise, the thief on the right said one phrase that brought him into Paradise—a phrase carrying wondrous depths: faith in Christ as Lord and King, faith that He was going to His kingdom and that He was able to bring him into the kingdom. His prayer also carried another depth in his connection with the Crucified.
How beautiful is the saying of the Apostle Paul in this depth: that he would rather speak five words with understanding than ten thousand words without benefit. Thus, what matters is not the length of the prayer, but its depth.
Depth in prayer includes many things, such as the extent of connection, love, understanding, contemplation, reverence, humility, and contrition of heart, as well as the extent of faith, trust, and hope in prayer.
Do you pray with such depth, or do you focus all your attention on the length of the prayer or the kind of words, even if they do not come from your heart?
In your spiritual readings, do you care about the number of chapters you read, or about the effect of every word on your soul?
There is no doubt that Saint Abba Anthony had heard many words of Scripture during his attendance at church. Yet the verse that says, “Go, sell whatever you have and give to the poor” (Mark 10:21) had a special depth in his heart that was able to change his entire life.
Indeed, the depth of this verse went beyond Saint Anthony, for it was able to establish in the whole Church a rite of earthly angels, joined by hundreds of thousands of people across many generations—because the verse was understood deeply.
The verses of Scripture are not taken superficially, for they have depths that require the reader to reach them, and for which he prays, saying: “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law” (Ps. 119:18).
These depths were not perceived by the scribes and Pharisees in their literalism, despite their frequent reading and memorization. An example of this is the law of the Sabbath, whose depth the Lord began to explain to them.
Even the disciples themselves did not perceive the depth in the Scriptures, so the Lord began to open their minds to understand what was written.
Just as we spoke about some depth in prayer and depth in Scripture, we also address the subject of depth in service.
One sermon by the Apostle Peter was able to convert three thousand people to faith in Christ, to repentance and baptism, and to the acceptance of forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit—one sermon!
What depth do you think was in this sermon? I mean the depth of the Spirit, the depth of effectiveness and influence, and the depth of participation with God in service.
Look also at the depth of influence in the words of the Apostle Paul: “Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid” (Acts 24:25). The governor trembled before his prisoner, or trembled because of his influence, for he was speaking with depth. He took the governor out of the subject of the case and brought him into the depths of his own soul, so he feared judgment and trembled.
The service of the apostles was deep; therefore, we see Scripture saying that “the kingdom of God has come with power” (Mark 9:1). In a few years, those who had no voice or speech reached the ends of the inhabited world with their words. Christianity moved from Jerusalem and Judea until it reached the ends of the earth.
The depth of this service sprang from faith and was mixed with holy zeal, love for the Lord and His kingdom, and unparalleled faithfulness.
It was a deep service because it was faithful unto death: “in labors, in watchings, in fastings, in purity, in knowledge… in the word of truth, in the power of God, by the armor of righteousness…” (2 Cor. 6:5–7).
Perhaps one of the most prominent examples of depth in service is John the Baptist.
He lived in the wilderness for thirty years until he appeared to Israel and began his ministry. After only six months, Christ began His ministry. In this short period—six months extending at most to a year or less—the Baptist was able to prepare the way before Christ and lead people to repentance and baptism, confessing their sins.
What depth there was in those few months!
Is your service also of such depth?
Does every word you say have its effect on people’s souls?
Do you care about the number of your disciples, or about the depth of the effectiveness of the word in them?
Do you have the appearance of service—systems, booklets, schedules, and multiple activities—or do you have the depth of the Spirit that leads people to the depth of the love of God and the depth of communion with Him?
This depth is what distinguishes the successful spiritual servant from the ordinary servant, the superficial servant, or the unproductive servant.
There may be a servant who measures his service by the type of classes he teaches, while another servant has no class and no appearance, yet he is amazing in individual work, adding new members to the Kingdom of God every day—people who have come to know God through him and through the influence of his service.
The one who cares about appearances focuses on the number of prostrations he performs each day. But the one who cares about depth rejoices not in merely pressing his head to the ground, but in pressing his soul to the ground in contrition before God. Here is depth.
The one who lives in the formality of faith may see faith as merely confessing Christ as Lord and Savior and saying “I believe,” without faith having a deeper meaning for him than that.
But the one who enters into depth finds that faith includes everything.
In the deep meaning, the believer cannot sin, and the devil does not touch him, “because he has been born of God” (1 John 3:9).
Here is the fruitful faith working through love, in which the entire Christian life is centered, not merely faith in certain theological facts—that is, practical faith mingled with a life of peace.
Would that each one of us decide to correct his spiritual standards and leave superficiality in his life, in order to enter into depth.
Depth is not in external practices, but in the heart from within. Practices are only an expression of the heart. Depth is not in words, but in deeds. Humility is not phrases of humility that a person repeats without meaning them practically, but humility of heart before all else.
Zeal is not words of enthusiasm, as the Apostle Peter said: “Even if I have to die with You” (Matt. 26:35), “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble” (Matt. 26:33). Nor is zeal raising the sword to strike the servant of the high priest. Therefore, the Lord Jesus left all these words and entered into depth—to the heart—and said to Peter: “Do you love Me more than these?” (John 21:15).
When we speak of depth, we may also remember that pain is another depth in the spiritual life, because it is a proof of sacrifice.
Thus, God revealed the depth of His love for us through His sufferings for our salvation. Likewise, the martyrs and confessors proved the depth of their faith and the depth of their love for God by accepting torment and suffering for His sake.
And you—what is the depth of pain in your life with the Lord?
To what extent are you ready to toil and suffer for His sake?
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