Take Courage

Insight from A. W. Tozer – God Must Be Loved for Himself

“God being Who He is must always be sought for Himself, never as a means toward something else.

Whoever seeks other objects and not God is on his own; he may obtain those objects if he is able, but he will never have God. God is never found accidently. ‘Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart’ (Jer. 29:13).

Whoever seeds God as a means toward desired ends will not find God. The mighty God, the maker of heaven and earth, will not be one of many treasures, not even the chief of all treasures. He will be all in all or He will be nothing. God will not be used. His mercy and grace are infinite and His patient understanding is beyond measure, but He will not aid men in their selfish striving after personal gain. He will not help men to attain ends which, when attained, usurp the place He by every right should hold in their interest and affection.

Yet popular Christianity has as one of its most effective talking points the idea that God exists to help people to get ahead in this world. The God of the poor has become the God of an affluent society. Christ no longer refuses to be a judge or a divider between money hungry brothers. He can now be persuaded to assist the brother that has accepted Him to get the better of the brother who has not…………..

The teaching of the Bible is that God is Himself the end for which man was created. ‘Whom have I in heaven but thee?’ cried the psalmist, ‘and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee’ (Psalm 73:25). The first and greatest commandment is to love God with every power of our entire being. Where love like that exists there can be no place for a second object. If we love God as much as we should surely we cannot dream of a loved object beyond Him which He might help us to obtain.

Bernard of Clairvaux begins his radiant little treatise on the love of God with a question and an answer. The question, Why should we love God? The answer, Because He is God. He develops the idea further, but for the enlightened heart little more need be said. We should love God because He is God. Beyond this the angels cannot think.

Being who He is, God is to be loved for His own sake. He is the reason for our loving Him, just as He is the reason for His loving us and for every other act He has performed, is performing and will perform world without end. God’s primary reason for everything is His own good pleasure. The search for secondary reasons is gratuitous and mostly futile.” – Taken from Man: the Dwelling Place of God, pages 56-59.

There is much more in this short chapter. Hopefully this excerpt will lead us to some deep thinking about God and our relationship with Him and to some practical servant living.

Stay faithful and hopeful,

Bill (a fellow-servant)

Romans 15:13; Isaiah 66:1-2