{"id":8510,"date":"2021-10-22T08:00:48","date_gmt":"2021-10-22T14:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/?p=8510"},"modified":"2021-10-21T09:25:01","modified_gmt":"2021-10-21T15:25:01","slug":"your-deeper-life-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2021\/10\/your-deeper-life-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Deeper Life Now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
Image: Crossway<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

I\u2019m tempted to write a tongue-in-cheek review of Dane Ortlund\u2019s new book\u00a0Deeper<\/em>: Real Change for Real Sinners<\/em><\/a>, where I talk about it like it\u2019s some prosperity gospel (well, \u2018gospel\u2019) schlock. But 1) I don\u2019t know the author personally at all, and I think that\u2019s always more helpful in using sarcasm, and 2) this really is an excellent book and I wouldn\u2019t want to run the risk of confusing people. Because if you are concerned with sanctification\u2013and if you\u2019re a believer, you should be\u2013then\u00a0Deeper<\/em> is a book you should read, absorb, and be blessed by.<\/p>\n

But how do we grow?\u00a0Deeper\u00a0<\/em>isn\u2019t a book full of tips and tricks. It doesn\u2019t cover church attendance, small groups, fasting, or any other things\u2013important things!\u2013that help us in our walk with Christ. Instead, it is about how our focus should be turned while we are walking. Specifically,\u00a0Deeper\u00a0<\/em>argues that<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing in Christ is not centrally improving or adding or experiencing but deepening<\/em>. Implicit in the notion of deepening is that you already have what you need. Christian growth is bringing what you do and say and even feel into line with what, in fact, you already are.\u201d (16)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now we have to be careful here, because this kind of language really could<\/em>\u00a0be the start of a prosperity gospel work, or a text of legalism, or even just a pop psychology self-help tract. There are plenty of books out there telling us that we\u2019re really kings and queens and need to realize that in our lives. That we\u2019re really already rich and only don\u2019t reflect it in our bank accounts because we lack true faith. Or that we\u2019re really champions and are only sick because we\u2019re not believing enough in ourselves. And so on.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, none of that nonsense shows up in\u00a0Deeper<\/em>. Instead, that which we \u201calready are\u201d into which we need to go \u2018deeper\u2019 is the fact that we are all sinners who have rebelled against a good God, and who deserve hell, and the further fact that outside of us\u2013even, despite us\u2013the Son of God and second person of the Trinity became a man, lived the life of perfect obedience that you and I should have lived, and took on Himself the just punishment that you and I deserved. The life and death of Christ being counted as ours is something that we do not make happen, but is simply a free gift from God applied by the Holy Spirit.\u00a0This <\/em>is the true status of our lives into which we need to go \u2018deeper.\u2019 And this is what Ortlund reflects on through various facets of the Christian life like pain, union, and despair.<\/p>\n

So if you are a believer who wants to think carefully and devotionally about the nature of sanctification in action, this is the book for you.<\/p>\n

Highly recommended.<\/p>\n

Dr. Coyle Neal is co-host of the\u00a0City of Man Podcast<\/a>\u00a0and an Associate Profess<\/em>or of Political Science at\u00a0Southwest Baptist University<\/a>\u00a0in Bolivar, MO<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Review of “Deeper” by Dane Ortlund<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1469,"featured_media":8518,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[925],"class_list":["post-8510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-christian","tag-devotional"],"yoast_head":"\nYour Deeper Life Now<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Review of "Deeper" by Dane Ortlund\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2021\/10\/your-deeper-life-now\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Your Deeper Life Now\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Review of "Deeper" by Dane Ortlund\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2021\/10\/your-deeper-life-now\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Schaeffer's Ghost\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-22T14:00:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-21T15:25:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/266\/2021\/10\/Deeper.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"537\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Coyle Neal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Coyle Neal\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2021\/10\/your-deeper-life-now\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2021\/10\/your-deeper-life-now\/\",\"name\":\"Your Deeper Life Now\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-22T14:00:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-21T15:25:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#\/schema\/person\/54a602d4bf41a6b8aa4605781d58915e\"},\"description\":\"Review of \\\"Deeper\\\" by Dane Ortlund\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2021\/10\/your-deeper-life-now\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2021\/10\/your-deeper-life-now\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2021\/10\/your-deeper-life-now\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Your Deeper Life Now\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/\",\"name\":\"Schaeffer's Ghost\",\"description\":\"Culture from a Christian Viewpoint\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#\/schema\/person\/54a602d4bf41a6b8aa4605781d58915e\",\"name\":\"Coyle Neal\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/645a05c01c5917cfe661c7a7cea92591?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/645a05c01c5917cfe661c7a7cea92591?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Coyle Neal\"},\"description\":\"Dr. Coyle Neal is co-host of the City of Man Podcast and teaches Politics, Philosophy, and History in Bolivar, MO.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/author\/cneal\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Your Deeper Life Now","description":"Review of \"Deeper\" by Dane Ortlund","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2021\/10\/your-deeper-life-now\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Your Deeper Life Now","og_description":"Review of \"Deeper\" by Dane Ortlund","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2021\/10\/your-deeper-life-now\/","og_site_name":"Schaeffer's Ghost","article_published_time":"2021-10-22T14:00:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-10-21T15:25:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":537,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/266\/2021\/10\/Deeper.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Coyle Neal","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Coyle Neal","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2021\/10\/your-deeper-life-now\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2021\/10\/your-deeper-life-now\/","name":"Your Deeper Life Now","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-10-22T14:00:48+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-21T15:25:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#\/schema\/person\/54a602d4bf41a6b8aa4605781d58915e"},"description":"Review of \"Deeper\" by Dane Ortlund","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2021\/10\/your-deeper-life-now\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2021\/10\/your-deeper-life-now\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2021\/10\/your-deeper-life-now\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Your Deeper Life Now"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/","name":"Schaeffer's Ghost","description":"Culture from a Christian Viewpoint","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#\/schema\/person\/54a602d4bf41a6b8aa4605781d58915e","name":"Coyle Neal","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/645a05c01c5917cfe661c7a7cea92591?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/645a05c01c5917cfe661c7a7cea92591?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Coyle Neal"},"description":"Dr. Coyle Neal is co-host of the City of Man Podcast and teaches Politics, Philosophy, and History in Bolivar, MO.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/author\/cneal\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}