Just recently, I was struck with the works of A.W. Tozer. I had read several of his books years ago. I began reading the ones authored by him that I had not yet read. One of them is "The Root of Righteousness." There were many things in the book that struck me as things I had already known but lacked the ability to express them as eloquently as he did. The passage I am about to quote brings home to me the contrast of the non-believer to the True Christian. If we are not recognizably different from the world around us, perhaps we are not walking closely with the Lord or we are not saved as we believe we are.
One of the characteristics of Narcissism in our culture is that we actually believe we are the character that we have envisioned in our own mind, but are in fact the opposite. The very nature of Narcissism is aggrandizement. That is, to believe strongly with our entire being that we are something we are not.
The following passage from the Tozer book that I mentioned earlier, exhibits the total devotion of the true believer, which will be evidenced in not only actions, but spiritual godliness that can be sensed by non-believers. If we have this inner godliness, it will be apparent to the non-believer, even if no actions are seen.
A.W. Tozer said:
"Well, it is not to be wondered at. A real Christian is an odd number anyway. He feels supreme love for One whom he has never seen, talks familiarly every day to Someone he cannot see, expects to go to heaven on the virtue of Another, empties himself in order to be full, admits he is wrong so he can be declared right, goes down in order to get up, is strongest when he is weakest, richest when he is poorest, and happiest when he feels worst. He dies so he can live, forsakes in order to have, gives away so he can keep, sees the invisible , hears the inaudible and knows that which passeth knowledge. And all the while he may be confounding his critics by his unbelievable practicality: his farm may be the most productive, his business the best managed, and his mechanical skill the sharpest of anyone in his neighborhood.
The man who has met God is not looking for something...he has found it; he is not searching for light ---upon him the Light has already shined. His certainty may seem bigoted, but his is the assurance of one who knows by experience. His religion isn't hearsay; he is not a copy, not a facsimile print; he is an original from the hand of the Holy Ghost.
We have not here described a superior saint--merely a true Christian, far from perfect and with much yet to learn; but his firsthand acquaintance with God saves him from the nervous scramble in which the world is engaged and which is popularly touted as progress.
No doubt we shall yet hear many a tin whistle and see many a parade bravely marching off toward the Four Freedoms or the Universal Brotherhood of Mankind or the Age of the Atomic Progress, and we will be expected to fall into step. Let's be cautious. We are waiting for a trumpet note that will call us away from the hurly-burly and set in motion a series of events that will result at last in a new heaven and new earth.
We can afford to wait."
Blessings,
Gwendolyn
