Tozer says that it is often easier to understand about God from the negative. In other words, when we consider what He is not like, we better understand what He is like. For instance: God had no origin; He had no beginning; He requires no helpers; He suffers no change; He has no limitations in His essential being; there is no place God isn’t; nothing can sway His hand.
What does this mean to us in everyday life? In a word…majesty. We have such a low view of God, often (if we are brutally honest) as not much more than the big vending machine in the sky. Think how often our prayers are nothing more than a list of requests! Yes, we have been adopted as sons of God and have been given permission to address Him as “Abba.” But in no way does that change Who He is relative to who we are. But since we now consider Him to be our “big buddy in the sky,” we feel free to live our lives in whatever way we see fit. We don’t see our sin as a big deal…yes, maybe our bigger sins, but certainly not the smaller ones. We don’t strive for holiness. We don’t fall on our faces in awe of God, especially in light of what He did for us on the Cross! God and His demands on our lives fall to a distant second place when compared to the demands and cares of the world.
Oh, how I want to go back and study, internalizing the insights Tozer has compiled here, praying that the Holy Spirit will help me to develop a massive view of God that leaves me in stunned awe and adoration. Just consider what a motivation such a view would be when it comes to the difficulties of challenging our culture with a life lived wholly sold-out to Christ.
What does this mean to us in everyday life? In a word…majesty. We have such a low view of God, often (if we are brutally honest) as not much more than the big vending machine in the sky. Think how often our prayers are nothing more than a list of requests! Yes, we have been adopted as sons of God and have been given permission to address Him as “Abba.” But in no way does that change Who He is relative to who we are. But since we now consider Him to be our “big buddy in the sky,” we feel free to live our lives in whatever way we see fit. We don’t see our sin as a big deal…yes, maybe our bigger sins, but certainly not the smaller ones. We don’t strive for holiness. We don’t fall on our faces in awe of God, especially in light of what He did for us on the Cross! God and His demands on our lives fall to a distant second place when compared to the demands and cares of the world.
Oh, how I want to go back and study, internalizing the insights Tozer has compiled here, praying that the Holy Spirit will help me to develop a massive view of God that leaves me in stunned awe and adoration. Just consider what a motivation such a view would be when it comes to the difficulties of challenging our culture with a life lived wholly sold-out to Christ.
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