“The stiff and wooden quality about out religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us He waits so long, so very long, in vain.”
“To many Christians Christ is little more than an idea, or at best an idea. He is not fact. Millions of professed believers talk as if He were real and act as if He were not. And always our actual position is to be discovered by the way we act, not by the way we talk.”
“Christ-less Christianity sounds contradictory but it exists as a real phenomenon in our day. Much that is being done In Christ’s name is false to Christ it that it is conceived by the flesh, incorporates fleshly methods, and seeks fleshly ends. Christ is mentioned from time to time in the same way and for the same reason that a self-seeking politician mentions Lincoln and the flag, to provide a sacred front for carnal activities and to deceive the simple hearted listeners. The giveaway is that Christ is not central: he is not all and in all.”
“We evangelicals also know how to avoid the sharp point of obedience by means of fine and intricate explanations. These are tailor-made for the flesh. They excuse disobedience, comfort carnality and make the words of Christ of none effect. And the essence of it all is that Christ simply could not have meant what He said. His teachings are accepted even theoretically only after they have been weakened by interpretation.”
“Much of what passes for New Testament Christianity is little more than objective truth sweetened with song and made palatable by religious entertainment.”
4 comments:
Wow, that is a good article.
tozer pulls no punches. ouch!
good words to hear, though.
One of the things I fear the most is that I might become, or already be one of those who cleverly fake my way through Christendom. It is far too easy to learn the script, so to speak, and I've met more than a few people who've made acting their career.
It is one thing to set out to purposely deceive others for personal gain. Those people tend to wear their intentions on their sleeves. They are fairly easy to spot within the crowd, but it is an all together different thing to deceive ones own self into believing that you have actually walked the narrow walk only to learn one day, (hopefully before it is too late) that there was a walk far more narrow down the way.
It is so much a part of our nature to seek approval from others, to have others' yeas and nays direct our path, and this, I suppose, is all well and good so long as the person that yeas or nays us has their own walk already perfected in Christ, but if not...
Who is it that is doing my yeas and nays for me? I suppose this is the question. The answer should be, Christ alone.
maryb, rachel: Tozer was a man of great faith and commitment who did not compromise; God give us more Tozers.
el: good to hear from you; still praying for you as you have been through a great deal.
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