The subtitle is The Human Thirst for the Divine and I find myself thirsty for more of God. If I quoted all the passages that have moved me, I would be quoting a good portion of the book, so I will settle for just a few favorite parts. I would encourage you to read the book. It isn't anything new, just the simple truths of our relationship with a holy God.
Failure to see this (our receptivity to God) is the cause of a very serious breakdown in modern evangelicalism. The idea of cultivation and exercise, so dear to the saints of old, has now no place in our total religious picture. It is too slow, too common. We now demand glamour and fast-flowing dramatic action. A generation of Christians raised among push buttons and automatic machines is impatient of slower and less direct methods of reaching their goals...We read our chapter, have our short devotions and rush away, hoping to make up for our deep inward bankruptcy by attending another gospel meeting....
The tragic results of this spirit are all about us: shallow lives, hollow religious philosophies, the preponderance of the element of fun in gospel meetings, the glorification of men, trust in religious externalities, quasi-religious fellowships, the mistaking of dynamic personalities for the power of the Spirit.
Tozer published this book in 1948. It is interesting that he so clearly diagnosed a problem then that would only grow worse as our society developed more "automatic machines." I am convinted by the part that I bolded (emphasis mine). "Too slow, too common." I am praying that God would change this about me!
1 comment:
Mind-thank you for such a thought provoking blog this morning. I loved, "We read our chapter, have our short devotions and rush away, hoping to make up for our deep inward bankruptcy by attending another gospel meeting." I am wondering if many of us even realize our "inward bankruptcy" or that it is very deep at all. It's all that white bread that the world offers that I stuff myself with(which by the way still leaves me bankrupt)instead of feasting off of the banquet God offers in His unsearchable charcter.
This quote has moved me of late. "Take time to be holy, speak oft with the Lord: abide in Him always, and feed on His Word. Take time to be Holy, the world rushes on; Spend much time in secret with Jesus alone."
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