I jumped into Tozer’s “The Pursuit of God” this morning, as I only have a few minutes I wanted to pass along the questions it spurred in my mind.
Everything is made to center upon the initial act of “accepting” Christ (a term, incidentally, which is not found in the Bible) and we are not expected to thereafter to crave any further revelation of God to our souls. We have been snared in the coils of a spurious logic which insists that if we have found Him…we need no more seek Him.
Are you still seeking Him today?
I want to deliberately to encourage this mighty longing after God. The lack of it has brought us to our present low estate.
Is he going there? Um…yes…he is. He is directly referring to the spiritual health of the church.
Ow.
Wait…it gets better…
Every age has its own characteristics. Right now we are in an age of religious complexity. the simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. Instead are programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart. The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship and that servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in this day, know God only imprefectly, and the peace of God scarcely at all.
Yeah. Ow. He’s right on the money though. Here’s the last punch:
When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other than God Himself. The evil habit of seeking “God-and” effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation.
Let’s run hard, but not after our things – after God. Just God. Not God AND our programs. God AND our corporate efficiency. Just God. After the exact imprint of God who is His Son Jesus. To quote Mark Driscoll – “Its about Jesus. Just Jesus. It’s always been about Jesus. If you aren’t about Jesus, you should quit.” Check out the audio and video from Advance09…great stuff.
Mike Ruel 
Love this book… love my brother Tozer! Even the title, ‘Pursuit of God’ seems so out of step with the limited church culture I get to see and interact with. Testimonies are based on literal phrases of “I prayed the prayer” to communicate the salvation experience. Evidence of salvation/faith is communicated in “I go to church such and such”. The hope of eternal life is expressed in “I’m going to heaven, where I’ll see my family and friends”… all of which may have a fragment of truth to them, but ‘pursuing God’?? Yeah, when my life gets really sucky… I put a prayer on the prayer chain (though praying myself is just too hard right now).
Mike, what I was wondering as I read these quotes is, if this was the state of the church several decades ago when Tozer was preaching/teaching/living… has it gotten any better… or does it always seem to be worse than before?
Will there be an upturn? a ‘running to God’ in our lifetime?
Thanks for helping me keep focused on Jesus and helping to point out and… by God’s grace… break the evil habit of seeking ‘God-and’.
pursuing God-and God alone!