When you go to the seaside, you see three kinds of people. People who keep to the dry land, to the shore, and have a nice happy, little time building their sand castles and what not; very happy.
There is another kind to take off their shoes and go into the shallow and paddle. If peradventure, by accident a wave should catch them above the ankles or to the knees, well, that is enough; they are soon out and back on the dry land. They are not having any of that. Enjoying themselves in the shallow and they will not accept anything else.
There is a third kind who go right in and out into the deep, and soon began to realize that they are having to cope with forces that are more than human forces. The further out they go, the more their resources of strength and endurance are drained and taxed. If they get far enough out to the sea, it becomes necessary for them to draw upon sources that are not in themselves at all.
There are a lot of Christians who are going to keep to the dry land and have a happy time, and they are not going to have anything that interferes with their happy pleasant Christian life. There are those who will just get into the shallow and have a little more, but as soon as things begin to get difficult, they debunk; they are back again, they are out of it. There are Christians who will plunge into the depths of the Lord and make discoveries of resources beyond their own "In Christ".
(An excerpt of "The Horizon Of Christ" by T. Austin-Sparks out of the chapter "The Greatness of our Christ"
