Pithy Gems from Tozer. Among the plastic saints of our
times, Jesus has to do all the dying. All we want is to hear
another sermon about his dying. It is no longer either dangerous
or costly to be a Christian. Some Christians have taken all
the justice, judgment, and hatred of sin out of the nature of God
and have nothing left but a soft God. Let us start reading our Bibles
with the thought that God means exactly what He says. The most godly Christian is the
one who knows himself best. No one who knows himself will
believe that he deserves anything better than hell. God's gifts often take the place
of God himself, and the whole course of the man's life is upset
by the monstrous substitution. The world is perishing for lack
of the knowledge of God and the church is famishing for lack
of His presence. Anyone who wishes to check on
his true spiritual condition may do so by noting what his
voluntary thoughts have been over the last hours or days. We have learned to live with
unholiness in our churches and have come to look upon it as
the natural and expected thing. I would rather stand alone and
have everybody as my enemy than to go along with the crowd to
hell. Everywhere among professors we
find people who are Bible-taught, but not spirit-taught. They grasp
the truth with the mind, not the heart. Many professing Christians are
caught up with the toys of contemporary society. They may be going to
hell, but it is going to be a comfortable ride for them. Christians don't tell lies, they
just go to church and sing them. Saving faith is irrevocable,
total commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Most Christians would be better
pleased if the Lord did not inquire into their personal affairs too
closely. They want him to save them, keep
them happy, and take them to heaven at last, but not to be
too inquisitive about their desires or daily conduct. The church has failed by living
too much like the world. The difficulty we modern Christians
face is not misunderstanding the Bible, but persuading our
worldly hearts to accept its plain instructions. We must do something about the
cross, and only one of two things we can do, flee it or die upon
it. Evangelical Christianity is now
tragically below the New Testament standard. Worldliness is an accepted part
of our way of life. We are not producing saints. Our models are successful businessmen,
celebrated athletes, and theatrical personalities. The true follower of Christ will
not ask, if I embrace this truth, what will it cost me? Rather,
he will say, this is truth. God helped me to walk in it.
Let come what may. It is possible to have some kind
of external religious experience that immunizes you to the new
birth and puts you where you will never be born again because
you think you are already born again.