“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us…Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God…Without doubt, the mightiest thought the mind can entertain is the thought of God, and the weightiest word in any language is its word for God…A right conception of God is basic not only to systematic theology but to practical Christian living as well…A god begotten in the shadows of a fallen heart will quite naturally be no true likeness of the true God…The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.” (AW Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy, (San Francisco, CA; Harper and Row, Publishers, 1961) p.9-11. The quotes above are relevant yesteryear, today, and in the next generations to come. Generations of Christians have been battling this ailment: God needs to be worshipped in Spirit and in “Truth.” The Spirit aspect seems to be the emphasis but not the Truth aspect. Many in Christendom in order to avoid responsibility and their obligations to God--in knowing Him intimately and thoroughly--have resorted to a feigned spirituality. In other words, many would rather speak of God in fuzzy, warm, tickling sensations and expressions instead of digging deep into the fresh, inexhaustible, and living Word to know Truth and the God of Truth. Everyone wants the easy way out of duty, work, and effort. “Why work so hard to know God, He’s in our heart,” some may say. Another may say, “I can feel Him, why should I worry about the doctrine so much?” But, this is something to worry about! Isn’t it true that we should love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and might? Isn’t it so that we should be renewing our minds? Isn’t it so that we should be “growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ”? Unless we’ve fallen off a cliff of sort, these obligations tell us to engage our minds, don’t they? I’m sure that many have a hard time relating to this, but Scripture is replete with injunctions about growing in knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and discernment in order to live a life conforming to the image of God. In other words, what is the end of this admonishment? We are to gain knowledge of God and learn the many doctrines of God in order to have the right concept of God with the result of worshipping, praising, believing, trusting, obeying, and knowing Him entirely. This is, my beloved, the end of our duty to glorify Him with all our power not just emotionally but through our minds, by continuing our quest to understand Him fully. Without a precise concept of God, you destroy His image and become an idolater! “that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19)   

Pastor Jim Cater