There are cheap laughs:

crude jokes or stupid videos that illicit a laugh reaction only for me to shortly return to my gloom.

Then there are deep laughs:

experiences or memories rooted in relationship that swell within me into a smile or laughter. It causes me to live [it] again, to ponder people, revisit places and abide in that joy.

Likewise, there are cheap experiences:

things we do that bring us immediate satisfaction but a satisfaction that ends as soon as the activity is over (and often result in a worst state than before we engaged in the activity).

Then there are deep experiences:

things we do that cause us to love, learn, and grow. Things that yield results that will remain with us for the rest of our lives.

When it comes to God, we often want to just “feel”, to have a momentary “spiritual” high (which are often counterfeit –not real) to carry us for a week or so while we busy ourselves with worthless things that do not satisfy and actually cause us more harm [cheap experiences].

Where God wants us to “know” Him –an abiding and an awareness that results in a confidence which only comes from obedience to Him [deep experiences].

“And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!'”
-Galatians 4:6

The deep experience is to know God (awareness, obeying, abiding) which is very different and much harder than just feeling (encouraged, excited, inspired).

There is nothing wrong with emotions. Emotions are God given and often result from an experience with Him. But God is a Spirit and therefore we primarily experience Him, not emotionally but, spiritually. This is about order, seeking to experience God spiritually and enjoying whatever emotions result, instead of the other way around. The order, what I seek first, largely determines whether my experience is cheap or deep.

The deep experiences are sometimes hard and uncomfortable but they result in life.

In everything you do and in how you do it, prefer those things that don’t often come naturally and are usually harder but that result in us being with God more.

Don’t go cheap, with fleeting pleasures that are ultimately unsatisfying and unprofitable.

Seek the heart of God through prayer and His Word, and seek to be with God through obedience to what Christ reveals –the One who gives us life and causes us to love learn and grow.

Make the extra effort to be with God.

It’s harder, but it satisfies and will be so worth in the future.

Go deep.