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Our vision of going deep and long:

1. The deepest kind of identity is found in love: to be loved by God. Full immersion in this love is the best thing for our sense of worth and being at home in the world. Love both precedes and trumps power.
2. We must work through what it means to be made in the image of God, not our own image or the image of culture. We are called to mirror God to each other, not to isolate ourselves–to become living representatives of love, charity, and humility (J. Richard Middleton, The Liberating Image).
3. Our identity is received from God not devised by us. It is a gift within a divine-human relationship. Taking a deep interest in us and our wellbeing, he wants to make us new creatures in Christ and in this way to set us free. It makes a huge difference where we ground our identity.
4. Redeeming the corrupted imago Dei in us is a serious part of developing the deeper life. This we cannot fake, perform, or transform ourselves (Matthew 16:25-27). We cannot save or possess our self. We discover our true self and calling when we turn this job over to God, make him Lord of our life. To worship the God who cares for us is to encounter joy and to discover a powerful connection to others.
5. God is our ultimate validator, not self, other people, our work, or our boss–even our friends or spouse. He knows us better than we know ourselves; he can heal us, straighten out our vision of life, set us on a solid path, show us healthy parameters for wholeness. Our identity is irreducibly dialogical (Galatians 2:20) not self-determined.
6. Trying to impress others (performance) can become a tremendous waste of time and effort, even exhausting. But as we discern our true calling in life, our space within agape love, we can find our creative purpose under heaven. Our righteousness, identity, meaning is not intrinsic but extrinsic–grounded in Christ. This leads us towards a concern for others and their needs versus our rights and entitlements. This is the arc of the moral that combines freedom and responsibility.
7. God never gives up on us, even when we disappoint terribly. He loves prodigals and runs to greet us: to draw us back into his love and superabundant grace. He is a much more secure refuge than drugs, alcohol, money, or sex. His grace creates continuity in our fragile, sometimes fragmented, existence–Paul the Apostle writes: “By his grace, I am who I am.” (2 Corinthians 15:10)
8. We learn about the I-Thou ‘economy of grace’ within a community of mutual giftedness. We are not alone in the world fending for ourselves against phenomenal odds. This is articulated in chapter 4 of Towards an Incarnational Spiritual Culture. Our journey in life is with one-another, involving intergenerational love and mentorship. This changes all the metrics.
9. We leave behind the idolatry of self, where I am the centre of all major concerns. We do not have to invent or reinvent ourselves from the ground up. Late modern culture puts a heavy burden on selves to become transparent and fully actualized in the present, the here and now. The incarnation paradigm does not: it is neither self-assertion nor self-negation; it is God-affirmation at its core, promoting God’s glory, not mine.
10. We exchange consumption-desire for intimacy-desire. God knows our name. Our deepest longing is for him, fulfilled in his presence, in walking with him daily. This is where the warp of self is woven together with the woof of God–communion and friendship, a space of trust.