Practice Deep Learning for Fruitful Living

Spiritual Advantage with Sam Stone

Deep learning is a term often used in AI (Artificial Intelligence) to indicate a more sophisticated level of machine learning. It teaches computers to think like the human brain. However, I’m not talking about AI today, but about SI—Spiritual Intelligence. Just as “deep learning” is to teach machines to think like humans, “deep learning” in SI can teach humans how to think like God. Paul said,

“Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny. ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Co 2:15–16).

Would you like to be able to “discern all things,” see the world through God’s eyes, and have the mind of Christ? You have heard of the concept of WWJD (What Would Jesus Do), but it’s more important to know WWJT (What Would Jesus Think) because actions start from thoughts.

To develop the mind of Christ, we need an environment for deep learning. Deep learning is like growing Chinese bamboo.

After sowing the bamboo seeds in the ground, the farmer has to water the ground and fertilize the soil regularly without seeing any bamboo for four years. Can you imagine working on an empty farm for four years? It talks a lot of faith to believe the bamboo will eventually shoot up from the ground.

If it were me, after the first year, I still have the patience; the second year, I might begin to wonder if I planted the seeds correctly; the third year, I might wonder if the seeds are dead in the ground; the fourth year, I would want to dig into the ground to make sure the seeds are still there. I might wonder, “What if I have wasted four years of water, fertilizer, and labor for nothing?” It seems a risky business.

In the fifth year, you will suddenly see the bamboo shoots sprouting. The miracle is once they break through the ground, they will grow 90 feet tall within five weeks. All of a sudden, your farm becomes a bamboo forest. And it keeps propagating year after year. You wait for four years but will harvest for a lifetime.

Bamboo farming is a very fruitful business, but the first four years could be nerve-wracking. Because Chinese bamboo can be about 100 feet tall, they require deep and firm roots underneath. That’s what they do in the first four years, growing a deep and robust network of roots to prepare for massive growth and be able to stand against the winds.

It’s a perfect analogy for deep learning to yield the fruit of discernment, the God-like brain, or the mind of Christ. Life will be entirely different if you can discern all things because you will have less anxiety and confusion living in this fallen world. You will also know what actions to take for your future.

Today, we will learn from Jesus about what could prevent us from deep learning and how to prepare ourselves for a fruitful life based on this week’s scripture lesson. Let’s begin!