Krissy says I am afraid to post on the blog, so here is a nice long post for everyone:
At the suggestion of a good friend, I decided to read The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer. Though I am reading chapter 5 now (Krissy and I have been using it as a nightly devotional), my mind is still reflecting on chapter 1. The opening line of chapter 1 has captivated my attention, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." What do you think about when you think of God? He continues, "For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like...The man who comes to a right belief about God is relieved of ten thousand temporal problems, for he sees at once that these have to do with matters which at the most cannot concern him for very long; but even if the multiple burdens of time may be lifted from him, the one mighty single burden of eternity begins to press down upon him with a weight more crushing than all the woes of the world piled one upon another...Let us beware lest we in our pride accept the erroneous notion that idolatry consists only in kneeling before visible objects of adoration, and that civilized peoples are therefore free from it. The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him...The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian Church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is once more worthy of Him - and her."
I don't know how to get past this, and maybe I am not supposed to. Tozer has done such a wonderful job of making sure that his readers understand the impact of what we believe about God. This is no small matter to be overlooked as long as we all claim to be Christian. This is essential to our faith in Christ. For if we believe things about God that are less than He is, we have diminished the gospel. What is the gospel but that we can come close to God. What better news is there? Yet we make assertions about someone going to heaven because they have given intellectual assent to the fact that they are a sinner and Christ will forgive their sins. Is God to be compromised for men? If God created the Sabbath for men, how dare we suppose that God exists for us? Not so, we exist for the glory of God, and whether we bow down before Christ now or later, He will receive that glory. He is worthy, and we will ALL hail Jesus as king, whether it be now or later.
As Paul Washer says, we seem to have adopted this picture of God looking more like Santa Claus than the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth. I have come in contact with quite a few people lately who have studied and analyzed the Bible so much that they have taken God out of the Scriptures that were penned by His Spirit. So, is it Santa Claus or is it the Bible? Neither, it is the great I am. He is holy, holy, holy. There is none like God, completely uncompromising in truth, yet never ceasing to display grace. How can we wrap our minds around this God? Though we may see a few of His undeniable attributes, we will never, never, never arrive at the fullness of who God is. Even in glory we will be eternally seeking to know more about God.
I know that to some, these words seem hard, and I do not deny that they are. It is truth, and the fact that we can know truth is grace. So, what comes into your mind when you think about God? Is it worthy of Him? I will tell you the little bit about God that I know: Though the entire human race is sinful and has degraded God, He sent His son, Jesus Christ (Yeshua Ha'Mashiach) to be a propitiation for our sins. While Christ was nailed to a cross, God crushed him according to Isaiah 53:10 so that we could once again be in fellowship (koinonia) with Him. According to Proverbs 17:15 it was the only way we could ever be in fellowship with the Father. Then Christ was raised from the dead as the first born from the dead of many brethren. He now sits at the right hand of the Father until God should submit all His enemies to be a footstool under Christ's feet.
Thank you Lord! May I reflect the love you have shown the world in everything I do! May I never compromise your truth or grace, but show both to the world that they may see you for who you really are! Praise you Oh God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob! Amen.
