Superficiality is the Curse of Our Age

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Depth Always Comes Slowly

Aren’t you glad that it takes 8 years for somebody to become a medical doctor?  I know I am.

In 2005 I suffered from a boulder sized kidney stone in my right kidney.

It began with depression on Friday afternoon.  Later that night I felt a dull ache in my kidney.  3 o’clock Saturday morning I had intense pain and by 5 o’clock I was vomiting everywhere.

The next day I went to the house doctor. He took a sonogram and informed me that I had a black mass in my kidney. “Great” I thought “I have the dreaded C word.”

Next I was sent to the urologist who said in English with a German accent, “You have a big kidney stone. You need to have surgery right away!”

My eyes popped out of my head! Then they sent me to the optometrist… just kidding.

When he said the word “surgery” I thought they were going to have to cut my back open. The doctor then corrected himself and said I needed to have a procedure.

Oh, thank God! Just a procedure! I needed to have anesthesia for this procedure. The doctors needed to insert a metal rod into my WHAT!? 

If somebody is going to be sticking a metal rod in my special area then I sure am glad it takes a whole 8 years for somebody to become a doctor!

Depth, no matter what the topic, always comes slowly. This is especially true when it comes to spiritual maturity.

Microwaved Maturity

Ours is an age of information overload. I can Google anything and everything I want. I always imagine that I am going to walk away from a Google session more intelligent. But what usually happens is that I walk away exhausted and confused.

Vast amounts of information will never produce maturity? Then what will produce maturity.

Permeating In Less Information

Maturity is at least a two part equation.

• Consumption of Information
• Practice of that Information

Try this:

• Read and reread the same godly Christian book for at least two months.
• Highlight parts of the book where you really feel God is trying to speak to you.
• Write down the applicable parts that the author suggests.
• Carry a note with you with one of the applications.
• Ask God to help you follow through with this godly application on a day to day basis (or hourly).

Stop reading so much different stuff. This includes blogs. Here is a blogging formula that I have been guilty of doing. I write a blog post, read 10 other blog posts from 10 different bloggers and leave them a comment in the hopes that I will get 10 unique comments on my post. I answer their comments and now I have 20 comments for my blog post. Impressive!

Except I am just trying to win a popularity contest and I am losing the battle for maturity (holiness).

Slow down, read less material, read the same book for two months, practice the Christ-like application that the author recommends and you might just surprise yourself one day when you find that your capacity for loving others has increased.

Have you been guilty of committing information gluttony in the attempt to become more mature?