Quote For Thought

Tuesday, September 30, 2008
' Every age has its own characteristics. Right now we are in an age of religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart.
The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship, and that servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at all.
If we would find God amid all the religious externals, we must first determine to find Him, and then proceed in the way of simplicity. Now, as always, God discovers Himself to "babes" and hides Himself in thick darkness from the wise and prudent.
We must strip down to essentials (and they will be found to be blessedly few). We must put away all effort to impress, and come with the guileless candor of childhood. If we do this, without doubt God will quickly respond.
When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other than God Himself.'
- A.W. Tozer (The Pursuit of God)

Tozer gives us a great passage to chew on. Thoughts? Agreements/Disagreements? Discuss.

2 comments:

Kevin said...

Good quote.

I love the emphasis on simplicity. We always want to have the answers...I always want to have the answers. But faith is based on trusting in the absence of answers and believing in the void of tangibles.

God's wisdom is the foolishness of man. His strength is found in the weakness of those, who like a child, follow him and his ways.

We spend all this time being responsible and not like children and then our faith calls us back to the mindset of a child. Think like a child. Trust like a child. Follow like a child. Believe like a child. Ask 'why' like a child.

The quote is pretty packed - so another thing it brings to me the simplicity of essentials. I'm still collecting my thoughts for a post on this, but what does the bible, the Kingdom of God, the Way of Jesus look like if you boil it down to the essentials? What would it look like? What things would make the list? I agree that it would be blessedly few.

Freddae' said...

Thank you for sharing this. I had never heard it / read it before and it moved me.

We all too often try to box God in and make God make sense to us on our level. The complexity of God is much greater and yet much more, as Kevin stated, simplistic.

Ours is a generation that has to have all the pieces fit. It's has to be contextual and evidential.

This was very refreshing. Again, thank you.