Go Deep!

I enjoy watching football.  In fact, the only thing I really do between the Superbowl and the beginning of baseball season is set my VCR (yep, still have one of those) up to record the shows that college hoops preempt.  Something that someone said on Sunday made me think of how "going deep" in football parallels our own faith walk.

Picture it.  You're watching your team play, and maybe it's close or maybe they're behind.  Your team has the ball, it's 1st and 10, the wide receiver's wide open down field and the quarterback hands off the ball to another player.  The player gets a gain of 2 yards and it's now 2nd and 8.  There's the snap, the wide receiver is still wide open and once again, the quarterback hands the ball off to one of his teammates for a big gain of... three yards.  It's now 3rd and 5.  In two plays, the team's managed to get a total gain of 5 yards.  They're still on their own 30, so you know, in all your infinite armchair wisdom, that unless the quarterback actually throws the ball or the receiver manages to break free of the defense and run the ball down the field, chances are, your team's going to make it to the 4th down and have to either try for another first down or be forced to punt.  From back here, you know a field goal would be nothing short of a miracle.

The teams are on the line of scrimmage, and you swallow that nacho fast so you can holler at the quarterback, "PASS IT THIS TIME!!!"  The ball's snapped, the quarterback gets it, he falls back, he's looking around for a receiver, you yell, "Number 39's wide open!" and the quarterback... Yep, he once more hands the ball off.

Handing the ball off is safe.  The quarterback ensures that the ball gets into the hands of the person he intends to have it, and from there, it's, well, out of his hands.  However, rarely is this an effective maneuver for moving the ball very far downfield.  We can be like that in our spiritual lives, too.

On Sunday, I heard a lady say during a discussion of Bible studies, "I don't want to go too deep; I want to stay shallow."  I couldn't believe my ears!  That'd be like a quarterback saying, "I want to show up for the game, but I don't want to even try to win."  Yes, passing the ball deep is risky.  The wind could catch it.  The other team could intercept.  The receiver could - horrors - not catch the ball.  But what are the benefits?  Imagine a 50 yard pass that's successfully caught by a receiver on the other team's 20 with no one close by.  Unless he trips over his shoelaces, he stands an excellent opportunity to score a touchdown.  Many quarterbacks and receivers see the value in playing both a short game and a long game, handing the ball off sometimes, but other times taking the risk and going for the long pass.

In our spiritual lives, we're often called on to go deep.  We're the quarterback risking the play to get our spiritual selves and our own spiritual maturity closer to God.  It's risky.  Going deep is often uncomfortable, forcing us to confront our own limitations and our own failures to live up to the dual commands to love God and love each other - our hubris-motivated sins.  But unlike that very human wide receiver who could conceivably drop the ball, God never does.  God is able to catch our attempts to be deeper into him, and with each attempt, moving the line of scrimmage that much closer to our goal of being more in tune with the heart and mind of Christ.