Simple is not Shallow and Complex is not Deep

It is impossible to measure the depths of the human soul. We are created in the image of our eternal God for the purpose of being in an eternal relationship with Him. The capacity of the soul is boundless, and we have eternity with our God to explore the depths of His love for us. All people are deep people. We are full of intellectual, emotional, and spiritual depth but the depth we possess is not always the depth we explore.

Instead of drilling down into the simple core of our identity in relationship to God, we tend to meander on the surface by dabbling in complexity. We exchange discovering our true depth for shallow notions of ever-increasing complexity. We love to say things like: “People are complicated,” “I’m a complicated individual,” and “It’s complicated.” But we are all actually pretty simple. We have simple needs, desires, and dreams. We have simple thoughts, emotions, and beliefs. We have simple relationships, conversations, and daily lives.

When we over-complicate life, we convince ourselves that intellectual, emotional, and spiritual depth are somehow out of reach. Depth is present and simplicity is the staircase. Drill down into simple truths to enjoy deep, abiding peace.

If you want to have deep relationships…keep it simple. Treat people the way you want to be treated. Love people with God’s love like He loves. Forgive as you have been forgiven.

If you want to think deeply…keep it simple. Choose a thought and meditate on it. Calm your mind and focus. Follow the thought and the implications and questions it produces to a place of deep understanding.

If you want to enjoy spiritual depth…keep it simple. Focus on the simple truths of God. Agree with God and obey His commands. Receive God’s love and share God’s love.

If you want to feel deep emotions…keep it simple. Allow yourself to feel. Identify emotions as you feel them. Take time to discover what you are feeling and why you are feeling it. Name your emotions and intentionally decide how you want to express them. Refrain from labeling emotions as positive or negative. Emotions are not the ultimate or the enemy…they are for feeling not for fighting.

Simple is not shallow and complex is not deep. Simplicity allows for maximum depth while complexity keeps us shallow. Complexity is often used as an excuse to avoid depth. When we pretend that things are too complicated for us to understand, we resign ourselves to surface-level dwelling.

As a pastor of a church, I have seen how the desire for complexity destroys the discovery of depth. The deepest thing I could ever preach is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself, but Christians often do not see the simple truths of Jesus as deep truths. They exchange simplicity for complexity and label Bible trivia as “deep.” They leave the depth of love for the surface of biblical minutia and religious experts are happy to feed their insatiable desire for complexity that has no power for world-transformation.

Simple depth is empowering. Shallow complexity is bondage.

At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. (Matthew 11:25-26 NIV)