Deep and Wide

When I was a kid (and that has been several decades ago) we sang a song in Sunday School titled, “Deep and Wide.” The lyrics were simple: Deep and wide, deep and wide; There’s a fountain flowing deep and wide (x2). This song is still sung today in Sunday School (see YouTube video below).

This song came to mind after I read an article published this morning in Charisma News, titled, “40% of Christians Don’t Bother: Is This the Greatest Threat Facing Christianity,” by James Lasher, staff writer at Charisma News. Lasher opens his article with information from The Barna Group on “several negative trends that have led to the loss of cultural influence and relevance for the Christian faith” (quote source–see article regarding these trends). He asks the question, “How did we get here?” One of those negative trends noted is a lack of involvement within the Christian community. He states:

As recently as January 2022, The Barna Group discovered, only a mere 28% of Christians are engaged in “Discipleship Community,” and 39% aren’t engaged in discipleship in any form whatsoever.

Instead of holding coming generations up to the Bible’s standard, we have instead been conforming ourselves to the world’s standard, trying to wrap the Bible around that, instead of wrapping our views around the Bible.

“You get what you measure,” he [Barna] continues. “So if you measure the wrong things, you’ll get the wrong outcomes… [pastors] measure how many people show up, how much money they raise, how many programs they offer, how many staff persons they hire, how much square footage they built out. Jesus didn’t die for any of that. So we’re measuring the wrong stuff and, consequently, we get the wrong outcomes.”

So how do we as the corporate body of Christ fix this predicament we are in?

It’s all about getting back to biblical basics, according to Barna.

“If we were to go back to the Bible, I think we’d recognize the local church, the institutional church, as we’ve created it, is man-made. It’s not in the Scriptures,” he said. “The programs, the titles, the buildings, all the stuff that has become sacrosanct in American culture and around the world is not necessarily biblical.”

“Jesus didn’t come to build institutions, He came to build people. And we see that model in His life. He devoted the ministry portion of His life to investing in individuals. And that’s what each of us who are followers of Christ need to be doing.”

With proper, biblical discipleship and the establishment of relationships that can weather the storms of life, the church can once again be the light that societies around the world so desperately need it to be. (Quote source here.)

GotQuestions.org describes what the Christian life is supposed to be like:

The Christian life is supposed to be a life lived by faith. It is by faith that we enter into the Christian life, and it is by faith that we live it out. When we begin the Christian life by coming to Christ for forgiveness of sin, we understand that what we seek cannot be obtained by any other means than by faith. We cannot work our way to heaven, because nothing we could ever do would be sufficient. Those who believe they can attain eternal life by keeping rules and regulations—a list of do’s and don’ts—deny what the Bible clearly teaches. “But that no one is justified by the Law in the sight of God is clear, for, ‘The just shall live by faith’” (Galatians 3:11). The Pharisees of Jesus’ day rejected Christ because He told them this very truth, that all their righteous deeds were worthless and that only faith in their Messiah would save them.

In Romans 1, Paul says that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the power that saves us, the gospel being the good news that all who believe in Him will have eternal life. When we enter into the Christian life by faith in this good news, we see our faith grow as we come to know more and more about the God who saved us. The gospel of Christ actually reveals God to us as we live to grow closer to Him each day. Romans 1:17 says, “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” So part of the Christian life is diligent reading and study of the Word, accompanied by prayer for understanding and wisdom and for a closer, more intimate relationship with God through the Holy Spirit.

The Christian life is also supposed to be one of death to self in order to live a life by faith. Paul told the Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Being crucified with Christ means that we consider our old nature as having been nailed to the cross and we choose to live in the new nature, which is Christ’s (2 Corinthians 5:17). He who loved us and died for us now lives in us, and the life we live is by faith in Him. Living the Christian life means sacrificing our own desires, ambitions, and glories and replacing them with those of Christ. We can only do this by His power through the faith that He gives us by His grace. Part of the Christian life is praying to that end.

The Christian life is also supposed to persevere to the end. Hebrews 10:38-39 addresses this issue by quoting from the Old Testament prophet Habukkuk: “Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” God is not pleased with one who “draws back” from Him after making a commitment, but those who live by faith will never draw back, because they are kept by the Holy Spirit who assures us that we will continue with Christ until the end (Ephesians 1:13-14). The writer of Hebrews goes on to verify this truth in verse 39: “But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.” The true believer is one who believes to the end.

So the Christian life is one lived by faith in the God who saved us, empowers us, seals us for heaven, and by whose power we are kept forever. The day-to-day life of faith is one that grows and strengthens as we seek God in His Word and through prayer and as we unite with other Christians whose goal of Christlikeness is similar to our own. (Quote source here.)

That last paragraph sums up the entirety of the Christian life. It is a life lived by faith in God through Jesus Christ, and our day-to-day faith is one that grows and strengthens as we seek God in His Word (the Bible) and through prayer as we unite with other Christians whose goal of Christlikeness is similar to our own.

At the beginning of this post I mentioned a children’s song sung in Sunday School titled, “Deep and Wide.” The following information regarding this song comes from an article titled, “Who Wrote the Deep and Wide Song?” by Jesse Joyner, Ph.D., professional entertainer, speaker, and writer:

There is a famous children’s song called Deep and Wide. You’re probably familiar with it. It goes…

Deep and wide, deep and wide. There’s a fountain flowing deep and wide (x2). –-Sidney Cox, early 20th Century

The song was written by Sidney Cox, a major in the Salvation Army. He wrote hundreds of songs, but this one is arguably his most well-known. According to Cox’s grandson, though the song is sung all over the world, Cox was saddened by the fact that the verses of the songs “had basically been lost to obscurity.” Below is a copy of the song as it first appeared in the Salvation Army’s publication War Cry. You can see all three verses in this document (source).

While Cox’s lyrics point to the fountain of life flowing from the wounds of Jesus, I also see the words reflecting the imagery of a lesser-known Old Testament text – that of Ezekiel 47. In that chapter, the prophet Ezekiel is having a vision. In the vision, he is being led around Jerusalem by a person (maybe an angel, a man of God, or possibly Jesus himself). The man shows Ezekiel a stream of water flowing from the base of the temple. The water flows out toward the Dead Sea. As Ezekiel and the man follow the path of the water, the water continually gets deeper and deeper, eventually bringing all sorts of life to places where there was no life. Here is some of that text….

He asked me, “Son of man, do you see this?

Then he led me back to the bank of the river. When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live.” —Ezekiel 47:6-9, New International Version

“So where the river flows, everything will live.” –Ezekiel 47:9

One of my daughters is almost two. “Deep and Wide” is her favorite song to sing right now. There is something about that song, both in the tune as well as in the lyrics, that provides fun and simplicity for a two-year old. She often sings it as part of a larger medley with other children’s songs.

I love the fact that her heart, soul, and mind are filled with such powerful words. These are words that remind us that the love of Jesus is far deeper and wider than any of us can imagine (Ephesians 3:17b-18). And where his fountain flows, everything will live. I want to raise my children to always thirst for that fountain (and chase after that fountain in everything I do in life as well).

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” —Ephesians 3:17b-18 (Quote source here.)

As we can see, “deep and wide” refers to the love of Jesus that is far deeper and wider than any of us can imagine. I’ll end this post with the words from Ephesians 3 starting with verse 16 and including verse 19: I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge…

That you may be filled . . .

To the measure . . .

Of all the fullness of God . . . .

YouTube Video: “Deep and Wide” Worship Song for Kids:

Photo #1 credit here
Photo #2 credit here
Photo #3 credit here