Monday Thoughts from Pastor Tim - March 31

Dear Church Family –

Thanks for another great day in church yesterday!  In yesterday’s message I quoted one of the most classic, enduring, and motivating passages of Christian writing in the 20th century—the opening paragraphs of The Knowledge of the Holy, by A.W. Tozer.

I think these paragraphs should be part of the mental database and life experience of every Christian.  Reading this book as a young man was electrifying!  It helped give me a constant awareness of God and how I think about Him.  Reading it as a new pastor catapulted me ahead in my growth as a preacher because I saw how spiritual truth could be presented in creative and compelling words.

So, I’d like to pass these paragraphs on to you.  I’m including here a little more than I read yesterday.

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. 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 gravest 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 composes 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.

“Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question, ‘What comes into your mind when you think about God?’ we might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man. Were we able to know exactly what our most influential religious leaders think of God today, we might be able with some precision to foretell where the Church will stand tomorrow.  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.”

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.” (Isaiah 26:3-4)

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind…” (Luke 10:27)

I’m thinking especially today about the fact that God knows me, and wants what is best for me, and is a good, good Father.

Because of Christ – Pastor Tim