Revisiting Tozer.....

I've decided to reread a book that meant a great deal to me in my early walk as a Christ-Follower.  As I stumbled along early in my faith, this book gave me depth to my goals and perspective....depth I feel that I want to taste again.  Here are a couple of thoughts from Chapter 1 of The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer.  It's a timeless classic and must-read for anyone seeking God.

1)  "The whole transaction of religious conversion has been made mechanical and spiritless.  Faith may now be exercised without a jar to the moral life and without embarrassment to the Adamic ego.  Christ may be 'received' without creating any special love for Him in the soul of the receiver.  The man is 'saved,' but he is not hungry or thirsty for God.  In fact, he is specifically taught to be satisfied and is encouraged to be content with little."

This Passage screams to me of the American Church, generally speaking.  We have instituted a system where church attendance and offering of finances pays the debt of worship and passionate discipleship.  We believe our "duty is done" when we regularly open the front door of the worship center, when we are seen with our fellow believers on-site.  What we miss is the transformation of ourselves internally.  We can sing, listen, pray and give without ever changing the blackness of our hearts.  We can love Jesus with our words, never loving him with our actions. We can speak of God at the same moment as we stroke our sin.  We can allow worship and sin to be both brought to the alter without ever wanting to change...our "safety net" being Grace and "once saved always saved." 

I don't want to sound like a legalist here, for Grace conquers all.  But even Paul said that "just because of Grace, we don't keep on sinning."  I think what Paul meant here was not that we make ourselves, by force, stop something we are doing wrong...but that if we are truly in the presence of God continuously, seeking Him, pursuing Him, there's no way we CAN keep on sinning.  We strive for purity, we strive for light.  We resist the devil, as James says, out of love for God and our struggle to stay within earshot of Him.

This has struck deep in my soul as it relates to relationships around me.  That I can week by week, lead others up the hill to the Temple Mount singing, yet not transform how I relate to them.  I must always be about transformation in my heart, and then following my words with action.  My words mean nothing if not acted upon.  My faith is dead without true actions of repentance and deed.  My friend and fellow-pastor David pointed out in a recent sermon that when Jesus says to "Love your neighbor" or "Love your enemy", this is not a feeling of love but an acted upon love.  This is a place for me to transform with Jesus' help.



2)  "When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other than God Himself.  The evil habit of seeking 'God-and' effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation.  In the 'and' lies our great woe.  If we omit the 'and' we shall soon find God, and in Him we shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly longing."

I am the worst of sinners, as a Pastor, in wanting God-and.  It is easier for me in the church vocation to add God to all my designs and my good plans.  I also want to add God to my family, of course....we're in ministry.  How does someone like me get so turned around?  Simple, desire other things as much as God.  Add anything to the mix and call it, "as important to you" as your faith, and you've added a hyphen and a conjunction.  It's easy, believe me, I do it all the time!

My goal needs to be, and is "nothing but Jesus."  Not that other things are bad, or we shouldn't enjoy our life and our families, etc...they are to be loved stewarded and guarded but shared.  But everything around us can never rise to the same acclamation or need as our need for relationship with Jesus.  When other things rise up in our life that feed our souls, it is too easy to put Jesus aside, just for a moment, as we attempt to heal ourselves or satisfy our thirst.  Jesus is the living water when we're thirsty, the bread when we're hungry, the sacrifice when we need one.  Ironically, we never are able to really prove that we believe He is the only thing, until it's very hard not get involved in the healing process ourselves, becoming our own doctor.  May I be better at practicing this truth...thanks Mr. Tozer!


More next week as I go on to Chapter 2......

The opposite of what you think....

Listened to a talk given by Ney Bailey of Campus Crusade.  I had never heard of her or read any of her books, but my friend Terry gave me this CD several months ago.  I had shoved it in the console of my car and forgot about it.  It showed up just when I needed it, as always.  Two days ago it appeared and I popped it in the CD player.  All I can say is WOW....

She's one of my new "super-speakers".  I'll be going back to her page and talks regularly now.

Ney's talk that I listened to is on "Bringing God into the Negative".  She helps us understand how to bring God close so that healing can happen in hard times and our perspective can become clearer.  Trials can seem like they are bringing life to a screeching halt....or crash.  When something bad happens, we always want to react to our feelings (with our feelings) when something happens to us, but Ney gracefully shows us how to react more like Christ when we face a trial in life.  As always, it's about DOING these things, not just believing they are true.  These are truths I will always remember now when facing some desert to walk thru.

The article title above has a link so you can read a brief writing on this subject.  If you'd like the "talk" on audio...contact me and I'll get it to you.  It will bless you tremendously!

It's OK to Complain!

I was reading James this morning.  That's a hard book to nod your head "yes" at.  He starts off by talking about trials and how we should rejoice when we suffer many of them.  Are you kidding me?  Jesus' brother goes on to explain that our trials will either produce maturity or not in us, dependent on how we process and work our through the trial.  We can focus on our emotions and feelings, following them, resulting in immaturity, or we can accept our trial, give it to God, and let Him lead us through it.

The consolation for me is in 4:9-10.  Seems it's ok for us to grieve, mourn, wail....complain.  It's ok to be sad and frustrated...just not ok to follow our own plans.  We have to follow His. We have to purify our hearts...check ourself to make sure we're in step with God.

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

The New International Version. 2011 (Jas 4:7–10). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.



I don't know if it makes the trials easier to wail and mourn, but it sure feels good sometimes!

Patience can be painful...

Reading thru 1 & 2 Samuel on my journey thru the bible this year.  David's maintaining of his perspective in the midst of the sin committed against him is baffling to me.  As Saul became more and more psychotic, making obvious "crazy" decisions, David still waited on God to decide on Saul's fate.  He maintained to everyone around him that Saul was "God's annointed."


I so often, when I "know" what's right, have a hard time waiting on God's plan instead of working mine.  It's especially hard when enemies are are at your doorstep, as David talked about in many Psalms.  But it comes down to whether you really trust God or not, or whether you have to have "your say" in what happens.  It's when the "Saul's of life are in the cave, right in front of you" when your integrity will show thru or not.  Will you take them out, or wait on God's timing?  When you have the power to make your will/desire happen, but yield to God's will patiently, where your belief system becomes  life.

Waiting on God is hard.  Patience is painful, but I have faith that it builds character...