A new space for spiritual people in superficial times.

A place of spiritual discovery.

📌 This essay was originally published on Deep Spirituality. Read the original here.

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from Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do—200 chiefs, with all their relatives under their command…

1 Chronicles 12:32 NIV

Fear of failure is not something that often hinders me, but this new endeavor has me nervous for two reasons. First, this is a robust newsletter, full of enough content to last you all week. In our fast-paced era of social media, AI, and dwindling attention spans, I recognize that an in-depth newsletter exploring spiritual questions does not necessarily fit the trends of the times.

This connects to my second reason: we live in an overwhelming, confusing, and disillusioning age. My fear is that many people don’t want to think deeply about the times we live in and would prefer to live a superficial life.

But 1 Chronicles 12 gives me a hopeful biblical perspective: regardless of what times we live in, there are always those who are willing to understand. Those people who are eager to explore, learn, and spiritually discover are those who reject superficiality and become leaders for change. Those people are who this newsletter is for.

My hope is that The Chemistry Lab will encourage, inspire, and connect people who value spirituality, allowing us to grow together into a force for good that can change the world.

The diagnosis

The Chemistry Lab is an innovative effort to create a space where spiritual people can encourage each other to keep a spirit of deep discovery in superficial times.

I realize that some may take issue with my diagnosis of superficiality, pointing instead to problems that are easier to see as the reason for unrest in the world. While this diagnosis may be unwelcome, it’s nothing new. Jesus recognized the danger of superficiality in his own time—and identified it not as a cultural anomaly but as part of human nature:

But Jesus, for His part, did not entrust Himself to them, because He knew all people [and understood the superficiality and fickleness of human nature], [25] and He did not need anyone to testify concerning man [and human nature], for He Himself knew what was in man [in their hearts—in the very core of their being].

John 2:24-25 AMP

Jesus communicated the truth about the human condition, which is that our natural instinct is to choose superficiality over depth, self-reliance over relying on God, and humanism over spirituality. This should open our eyes to the significance of our daily choice to either follow our natural human instinct or to follow Jesus.

For those who choose to follow Jesus, the challenge is to navigate life in the same way he did by resisting the seduction of conforming to a superficial culture:

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:2 NIV

Much of what’s going wrong in our culture—whether in politics, religion, or relationships—can be traced to how superficiality has displaced spirituality.

Increasingly, the times in which we live are politically polarized, economically aggrieved, religiously disinterested, institutionally distrusting, and socially angry. From a biblical point of view, these problems are not new; they exist whenever God is replaced with the shallow solutions of this world.

For us to choose spirituality, we must learn from Jesus and resist the temptation to reduce life to the wisdom of a tweet or the opinion of an influencer. We must resist the urge to live by emotional reactions without reflection and human judgment absent the Word of God.

Real life, the life God has invited us to discover, is not superficial. It is multi-dimensional, deeply spiritual, and whole.

The call to depth

If we are to fight the pervasive culture of superficiality, we must discover what it means to live a whole, real life.

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One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” [29] “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. [30] Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’”

Mark 12:28-30 NIV

Jesus called us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength—four dimensions that make up a whole life. Our culture often addresses one, two, or maybe three of these. Our mental well-being might be recognized as important, along with our physical strength and health. Sometimes, but less often, our emotional needs are acknowledged and explored. But the soul is nearly always neglected. We need all four to live a full and whole life, so the result of neglecting even one is superficiality: a life without fullness of depth, meaning, or purpose.

At this point in our discussion, the temptation might be to get overwhelmed, thinking that taking care of all four dimensions of life is too difficult or complex. Some might say Christianity needs to be made simpler, not more complicated.

I agree that simplicity is important; the Bible makes it clear that the message of Jesus is both a powerful and a simple one (1 Corinthians 1:17 ESV). However, we must be careful not to resist depth in the name of “simplicity.” Real simplicity distills truth; superficiality discards it.

Have you read the Gospels lately? Jesus’s teachings may be concise, but they’re layered, unsettling, and transformational. Yes, Jesus was simple. But he was never superficial.

In The Chemistry Lab, we will work together to experiment and discover what it truly means to live like Jesus, so let’s see this as an exciting rather than an overwhelming task. This call to depth is not one of perfection, but of discovery.

The two forces of our time

As we embark on a journey toward a whole life, we must address two forces that are meant to overcome our human limits: technology and spirituality. In our world today, we focus and depend far more on technology than spirituality.

While technology enhances our human abilities, only spirituality transforms us. It connects all four dimensions of our humanity together into a whole person capable of thriving emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and physically. Rather than merely existing on one, two, or at best three dimensions of life, we can rely on God and experience life on all four. This is the full life Jesus promises.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

John 10:10 NIV

If we feel this is too complex, then we should remember the words of Albert Einstein, which appropriately captured the heart of simplicity in his 1933 Herbert Spencer Lecture:

“It is the grand object of all theory to make these irreducible elements as simple and as few in number as possible, without having to renounce the adequate representation of any empirical content whatever.”

You may know it as the paraphrased version:

“Everything should be made as simple as possible—but not simpler.”

That’s the problem with superficiality: it tries to make life simpler than it is. That’s how we end up relying solely on technology while discarding spirituality. And when that happens, we settle for something less than the life that is possible; we lose meaning, depth, and even hope.

What’s at stake

Here’s where the urgency comes in. In a recent column for The New York Times, Ross Douthat warned of the possibility of essential aspects of life becoming extinct in our technological age:

Every great technological change has a destructive shadow, whose depths swallow ways of life the new order renders obsolete. But the age of digital revolution — the time of the internet and the smartphone and the incipient era of artificial intelligence — threatens an especially comprehensive cull. It’s forcing the human race into what evolutionary biologists call a “bottleneck” — a period of rapid pressure that threatens cultures, customs and peoples with extinction…

In this environment, survival will depend on intentionality and intensity…Languages will disappear, churches will perish, political ideas will evanesce… except among people who are deliberate and self-conscious and a little bit fanatical about ensuring that the things they love are carried forward…

[This is] an appeal for intentionality against drift, for purpose against passivity—and ultimately for life itself against extinction.

Ross Douthat, ”An Age of Extinction Is Coming. Here’s How to Survive”

I encourage you to read Mr. Douthat’s article in its entirety because it is a prescient warning not to be deceived about this unique moment in history. Unless those of us who see the value of spirituality pursue and spread its worth, the world we have known will grow worse, not better, because much of what makes life worth living can grow extinct.

This isn’t pessimism—it’s a wakeup call. We need spiritual people in every walk of life. We need people who live full lives, people who are willing to explore the depths of the heart, mind, strength, and especially the soul.

Because if we don’t? Let the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. serve as a sobering warning to us all:

“Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: ‘Too late.’”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Welcome to the Lab

That’s why I’m launching The Chemistry Lab.

It’s not just a newsletter. It’s a return to the spirit of discovery that I first found as a ten-year-old boy with a kitchen table, a chemistry set, and a dream.

Each issue is an experiment in walking with God. Each section is designed to spark spiritual curiosity.

And you? You are my lab partners. Together, we will live out the spirit of discovery in Proverbs 25:2, as translated in Eugene Peterson’s paraphrased version of the Bible:

“God delights in concealing things; scientists delight in discovering things.”

Proverbs 25:2 MSG

I’ll be sharing with you things I’m working on and exploring, and I’m asking you to join me in this endeavor. Our hypotheses might not always be right; sometimes they might be wrong. Other times, we will discover something totally new. This journey together will be unknown and uncharted, but it will be worth every moment.

The leap

“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” [24] Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

Mark 9:23-24 NIV

Philosopher Søren Kierkegaard described the decision to believe in God as a leap—a deep, spiritual commitment beyond the reach of reason. This is what I am asking of you.

As I already mentioned, this is not going to be a superficial treatment of Christianity, but a deep pursuit of what it means to embrace the spirituality of Jesus.

Join The Chemistry Lab

This is your invitation.

Subscribe. Share. Forward this to someone who wants to change the world—or someone who you think will be interested in spirituality.

Because The Chemistry Lab is open. And God is waiting to be discovered.