So I was reading through my normal round of devotionals this morning and this one by Tozer (which I think is just an excerpt from one of his books) really got me. Thought I'd share. To think that the Holy Spirit is jealous of my obedience is humbling. I cannot help but fall in love with a Savior who died that I may live and Who loves me unconditionally regardless of how many times I cheat on Him and turn my back on him to enjoy the temporary 'pleasures' of the flesh. To not have unquestioned obedience for our Savior is to give a measure of our obedience to His adversary. And as all good Christians know in our head, 'you can't serve two masters (Lk16:13)'. Why is it so easy for this idea to get lost in translation from the head to the heart? Wish I knew....
Unquestioned Obedience - A.W. Tozer
"If the Spirit takes charge of your life He will expect unquestioning obedience in everything. He will not tolerate in you the self-sins even though they are permitted and excused by most Christians. By the self-sins I mean self-love, self-pity, self-seeking, self-confidence, self-righteousness, self-aggrandizement, self-defense. You will find the Spirit to be in sharp opposition to the easy ways of the world and of the mixed multitude within the precincts of religion. He will be jealous over you for good. He will not allow you to boast or swagger or show off. He will take the direction of your life away from you. He will reserve the right to test you, to discipline you, to chasten you for your soul's sake. He may strip you of many of those borderline pleasures that other Christians enjoy but that are to you a source of refined evil. Through it all He will enfold you in a love so vast, so mighty, so all-embracing, so wondrous that your very losses will seem like gains and your small pains like pleasures. Yet the flesh will whimper under His yoke and cry out against it as a burden too great to bear. And you will be permitted to enjoy the solemn privilege of suffering to fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in your flesh for His body's sake, which is the Church. Now, with the conditions before you, do you still want to be filled with the Holy Spirit?" If this appears severe, let us remember that the way of the cross is never easy. The shine and glamour accompanying popular religious movements is as false as the sheen on the wings of the angel of darkness when he for a moment transforms himself into an angel of light. The spiritual timidity that fears to show the cross in its true character is not on any grounds to be excused. It can result only in disappointment and tragedy at last."
Great post, I really liked this line:
ReplyDelete"He may strip you of many of those borderline pleasures that other Christians enjoy but that are to you a source of refined evil."
Yeah, I think that's the line that smacked me in the face. :-/
ReplyDeleteI agree, I like the post. I think often times we get so caught up in ourselves that we limit what the Holy Spirit can do in us. We forget just how great and powerful the Holy Spirit acutally is and we limit and confine him into what we think he should be without realizing the greatness of what he actually is. We let our circumstances blind us and overwhelm us to the point that we aren't living the way Christians are actually called to live. We overlook that "Through it all He will enfold you in a love so vast, so mighty, so all-embracing, so wondrous that your very losses will seem like gains and your small pains like pleasures." If we really believed this we wouldn't fall into self-sin as much as we do. It's ultimately a struggle of lacking faith and trust in the power of the Holy Spirit.. Tozer says some pretty awesome stuff that usually hits home everytime
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