A.W. Tozer opens his book Knowledge of the Holy with this piercing quote "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." The heading of his first chapter: Why We Must Think Rightly About God. A few paragraphs in, he says "A right conception of God is basic not only to systematic theology but to practical Christian living as well. It is to worship what the foundation is to the temple; where it is inadequate or out of plumb the whole structure must sooner or later collapse...The man who comes to a right belief about God is relieved of ten thousand temporal problems...
This past fall, I posted that the women in our church are reading Practical Theology for Women and months into the book, I still love each brief, poignant chapter. I'm facilitating a discussion tonight and in prepping made note of a few of my favorite quotes. The first of which is the question "What enables one man to face open-heart surgery with calm assurance, while another man is devastated because his car's transmission needs to be overhauled?
Just a few of my other favorites:
They understood their lives were about something bigger than themselves. It's not that their daily problems were inconsequential. Rather they learned to look at their daily struggles from an eternal perspective...we must train ourselves to take our thoughts captive and make them submit to what we know to be true of God.
Each trial taught us beautiful things about God--things that are so precious to know about him that it was worth the earthly pain we endured to learn it.
In fact, often he seems more beautiful and sustaining during the trials, perhaps because he has forcefully removed from our line of vision the things that obscure our view of Him.
Theology, at its most basic sense is simply the study of God. Proper theology is not complex, but it is fundamentally important for all believers, because knowing our God and understanding His character are essential tools that enable us to exercise wisdom in our daily lives. As we study who God is and what he does, we are equipped to deal with the big and small issues of life. Knowing God and acting in faith in light of those beliefs is key to a life pleasing to God. Know him, and then act like you know him, that is faith.
In essence, the author of Hebrews is telling us that the heart of faith is a right view of God.
Authentic faith in God is based on an understanding of the truth of God's character that comes from scripture alone, along with confidence in the trustworthiness of that truth applied practically to our daily lives.
Know him, and then act like you know him. Hmm, do I know him? Do I act like it?
Tozer completes his first chapter with this charge:
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 of her. In all her prayers and labors this should have first place. We do the greatest service to the next generation of Christians by passing on to them undimmed and undiminished that noble concept of God which we received from our Hebrew and Christian fathers of generations past. This will prove of greater value to them than anything that art or science can devise.
To deal well with the day to day, to prepare for trials to come, for my own soul and for those who will follow, I pray that God will continue to reveal himself - to make Himself known, and by his grace I will humbly seek his Word for more of him. I will wholeheartedly give thanks for those who have faithfully gone before me--as imperfect as they may have been. And most of all, I will praise him for his pursuit of my soul and for knowing me an eternity before I knew him.
"Thus says the Lord, “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 9:23-24
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