The Champion Virtue of the Believer who has gone deeper is Gratitude. Gratitude is at the core of every Spirit filled, Christ follower. How could we ever be anything less than grateful? At its root, gratitude grows out of humility and it opposes pride. The believer who is truly growing deeper will manifest gratitude to a greater and greater degree. 2 Corinthians 4:15 speaks of God's grace coming to more and more people - and the result is great thanksgiving, overflowing thanksgiving. The longer you walk in the way - the more your gratitude should show.
To go deeper, it's not just what we do with others or what we do with our stuff - we also need to focus on our minds. The old KJV of Proverbs 23:7, says, "as a man thinks - so he is." There is much truth in that. The Bible often calls us to check our thinking. We are to apply our minds to instruction and understanding, Proverbs 22:17. Paul reminds us that we are in charge of our thinking; Philippians 4:8. But it is in Romans 12:1-2 that we are reminded we are not alone in this journey, God is the one who transforms the way we think. One of the ways that God does that is by asking the right questions; often tough questions, even questions we'd prefer to ignore - but they are critical questions. His questions are like windows to the mind. How are you thinking? How would you answer these questions? Are you close enough to hear and answer his questions?
While going deeper may begin in the heart hungry for God, it is also certainly connected to all the relationships we've explored. But to go deeper, one needs also to get a "grasp" of how our "grasping lives" can derail our pursuit of God. Jesus himself told a parable, about the Sower, and how the "seed" was crowded out by the worries of life, the lure of wealth, and our desire of other things. Our relationship to "our stuff" can be the very area that drives us deeper or keeps us shallow. Remember, Jesus said, "Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be." (Matthew 6:21). Which trajectory is your stuff moving your devotion?
