A W Tozer - What we think about God (Part 1)

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.   A W Tozer


Part 1

The most important thing about us? Did he mean to say "What comes into our minds first when we think about God is the most important thing we think about Him"?

But that's not what he said.

He said what comes into our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us!

More from Tozer on this:

The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man's spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God.

Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.

For this reason the greatest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.

We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God.

This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that compose the Church.

Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God, just as her most significant message is what she says about Him or leaves unsaid, for her silence is often more eloquent than her speech.

She can never escape the self-disclosure of her witness concerning God.


From A W Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy, Chapter 1,
Why we must think rightly about God.




I find this thoughtful -- thinking about world history
and the civilizations that have come and gone.

The UN posts a list periodically of which countries are the most democratic (where all the citizens have the most freedoms) and the most financially beneficial for its people - all, not just the elite).

When we look at the lists, at the top countries, they are all Christian nations, or historically influenced deeply by Christianity. Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu countries are at the bottom.


Does that relate to how we view God? We picture God as holy and righteous, displaying justice for all, not jut a few. We see Him as concerned about the poor, the children, and the powerless.


We picture Him, through evidences in His Word, as
honoring hard work and ambition.

He wants us to do something about our society!


I think Tozer is right - and we are living proof in our country today - and our society does have a high picture of God and so we are, with other Christian countries,  at the top of those lists!

So, then, as we "grow" our picture of God, we will become more like the kind of people He wants us to be - like Him - and our society will become more like His Kingdom on earth.....

Our God is personally involved in His creation and His creature -- there is no such thing as "fate."

Words to ponder... we can never escape the self-disclosure of what we think about God....


See Part 2