I am finding A.W. Tozer to be very quotable. He has a very pastoral feel to him. That is appropriate because he was a a pastor, I guess. I just finished another one of his books so I thought I’d share some of it with you all:
“Promoting self under the guise of promoting Christ is currently so common as to excite little notice…Self can live unrebuked at the very altar. It can watch the bleeding Victim die and not be in the least bit affected by what it sees. It can fight for the faith of the reformers and preach eloquently the creed of salvation by grace, and gain strength by its efforts. To tell the truth, it seems actually to feed upon orthodoxy and is more at home in a Bible conference than in the tavern. our very state of longing after God may afford it an excellent condition under which to thrive and grow.” (The Pursuit of God)
Here’s another:
“The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. rather, he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has accepted god’s estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and helpless as God has declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is, in the sight of God, more important than angels.” (The Pursuit of God)
What I really appreciate about Tozer is his concern for the actual experience of Christianity. Many of us book-readin’, doctrine-learnin’ types tend to neglect the role of Christian affections. We are often even afraid or resistant to the emotional side of our faith, but that is not Biblical. true, our Christian affections MUST be governed by what we know FIRST to be TRUE, but the Spirit filled response to Scripture is joy, and Dr. Tozer seems to have a firm handle on this.
Matt, they are both great quotes. Great in their sound Biblical truth, but also because they are convicting. That first quote is especially challenging.
Getting the time to read books that you want to read can be difficult, and so I can’t wait for my summer break coming up in just over a month. I do intend to soak in the word of God, but to also allow God to grow me through some of the classics that I have not yet read. I’ve also got a whole lot of new classics to read as well (especially after the Desiring God book sale).
Matt, even just reading about the fact that you are reading and how God is using it to sanctify you is an encouragement to me to keep pressing on and to not be comfortable where I’m at now.
[...] Ikonograph) Posted by Nath on October 10, 2007 at 12:54 pm Tagged As: a.w. tozer, pride, self These [...]
Reading’s pretty much the best. I have a new Francis Schaeffer book to read, and I’m really looking forward to it.