"Men are caught in a disaster worse than earthquake or flood..."
Tozer
Minds -- Blind or Opened
Until the full light of God's inspired Word floods down upon the religious landscape, almost everything is obscure and indistinct. The finest minds see things that are not there and fail to see the things that are. This inability to make out the details is a frustrating thing to persons of a strong religious bent and results in a lot of guessing and theological improvising. Such persons demand to know, and though they neglect or reject the holy Scriptures they will know, regardless, in some manner satisfying to themselves.
Bible lovers have been blamed for being excessively dogmatic and it may be that they sometimes are. I do not wish to justify a spirit of cocksureness wherever it may be found, but the certainty of the believer may be understood when it is remembered that it springs from his faith in the Scriptures as the full and true revelation of the mind of God to men. His dogmatism has back of it the strong 'thus saith the Lord' of prophet and apostle. My own experience has taught me, however, that the most stubborn dogmatism is found not among those who quote the Bible to support their convictions, but among those who quote no one and claim for their spiritual authority nothing higher than their own opinions.
from Tozer Daily 041212
Waiting for God
I am convinced that the dearth of great saints in these times even among those who truly believe in Christ is due at least in part to our unwillingness to give sufficient time to the cultivation of the knowledge of God. We of the nervous West are victims of the philosophy of activism tragically misunderstood. Getting and spending, going and returning, organizing and promoting, buying and selling, working and playing--this alone constitutes living. If we are not making plans or working to carry out plans already made we feel that we are failures, that we are sterile, unfruitful eunuchs, parasites on the body of society. The gospel of work, as someone has called it, has crowded out the gospel of Christ in many Christian churches. In an effort to get the work of the Lord done we often lose contact with the Lord of the work and quite literally wear our people out as well. I have heard more than one pastor boast that his church was a "live" one, pointing to the printed calendar as a proof--something on every night and several meetings during the day. Of course this proves nothing except that the pastor and the church are being guided by a bad spiritual philosophy. A great many of these time-consuming activities are useless and others plain ridiculous. "But," say the eager beavers who run the religious squirrel cages, "they provide fellowship and they hold our people together." To this I reply that what they provide is not fellowship at all, and if that is the best thing the church has to offer to hold the people together it is not a Christian church in the New Testament meaning of that word. The center of attraction in a true church is the Lord Jesus Christ. As for fellowship, let the Holy Spirit define it for us: "And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers" (Acts 2:42).
from Tozer Daily 040103
Distinguishing between Jacob and Esau
There are areas of Christian thought, and because of thought then also of life, where likenesses and differences are so difficult to distinguish that we are often hard put to it to escape complete deception. Throughout the whole world error and truth travel the same highways, work in the same fields and factories, attend the same churches, fly in the same planes and shop in the same stores. So skilled is error at imitating truth that the two are constantly being mistaken for each other. It takes a sharp eye these days to know which brother is Cain and which Abel. We must never take for granted anything that touches our soul's welfare. Isaac felt Jacob's arms and thought they were the arms of Esau. Even the disciples failed to spot the traitor among them; the only one of them who knew who he was was Judas himself. That soft-spoken companion with whom we walk so comfortably and in whose company we take such delight may be an angel of Satan, whereas that rough, plain-spoken man whom we shun may be God's very prophet sent to warn us against danger and eternal loss.
from Tozer Daily 030912
Who is God?
Far beyond that vague notion that some refer to as the
Diety is a force that is more powerful than the human
mind can comprehend. The amazing intricacies of the world
around us bear witness to this fact. All of these spell out
an amazing intelligence at work, that architected the finest
details of subatomic physics to the vast universes filled
with stars and mystery. We have the wisdom of the ancients
captured in that time capsule referred to as the Bible.
Believers regard this collection of books, as inspired.
It is these texts, better than any other, that further our
understanding of the vast, unfathomable intellect, which
transends time and matter.
Let me have time to think about that, is a phrase we
often hear. It illustrates the incredible differences
between human thought and that of the Diety. The latter,
creator of time, space, mass and energy, thinks outside of
the confines of time. Whereas we need time, the creator is
said to exist before time and after time -- as such He is
described as eternal. How inadequately we can relate to,
much less understand such.
How are we to know who He is unless we spend time in His
word? Not only must we be knowledgable, we must approach
with open-mindedness and contrition -- a sense of our own
inadequacy. Only when we are honest with ourselves, admitting
that our thoughts are inadequate in understanding the Eternal,
can we hope to get a glimpse behind the torn curtain...
The concept of God, is too lofty for the thinking man to adequately
comprehend; the modern, takes no time to think beyond the confines
of the present. Take care, that you don't become an
unwitting regurgitator of some unworthy philosophy of this age.
Last update $Date: 2004/12/13 01:40:33 $
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