Morning and Evening with A.W. Tozer October 4th

 Morning and Evening with A.W. Tozer October 4th

Tozer in the Morning
Vital Faith Shows Itself in Changed Living

We would make a clear distinction here between moral action and mere religious activity. In truth there is already too much of that popular type of activity which does little more than agitate the surface of religion. Its never-ending squirrel-cage motion gives the impression that much is being done, when actually nothing really important is happening and no genuine spiritual progress is being made. From such we must turn away.

By moral action, we mean a voluntary response to the Christian message: not merely the acceptance of Christ as our personal Savior but a submission to the obligation implicit in the doctrine of the Lordship of Jesus. We must free ourselves from the inadequate concept of the gospel as being only "good news," and accept the total meaning of the Christian message centering in the cross of Christ. We must restore again to the church the idea that the offer of salvation by faith in Christ carries with it the condition that there must be also a surrender of the life to God in complete obedience.

Anything less than this puts the whole thing in the passive voice. A lifetime of passive listening to the truth without responding to it paralyzes the will and causes a fatty degeneration of the heart. The purpose of Bible teaching is to secure a moral and spiritual change in the whole life. Failing this, the whole thing may be wasted.

Tozer in the Evening
Resisting Monotony By Means of Variety

Some of the purest souls have written of the dangers of continuous spiritual exercises uninterrupted by lowlier considerations. Von Hugel speaks of the ?neutral cost? of prayer and advises that we should sometimes break off thoughts of heavenly things and go for a walk or dig in the garden. We have all known the disappointment felt when returning to a passage of Scripture that had been so fresh and fragrant the day before only to find the sweetness gone out of it. It is the Spirit?s way of urging us on to new vistas. I notice that in the wilderness God kept Israel moving. One may wonder what would have happened if they had camped in one place for forty years. The lives of the great Christians show that they differed not only from each other but from themselves at different periods of their lives. Spiritual exercises that helped them at one stage of their development later became useless and had to be changed for others.

Study FurtherRelated passages, insights, and questions for personal reflection.

Take today’s devotional further. Explore related Scriptures and open any verse in the Study Desk for deeper study.

    James 1:22: But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not just hearers who deceive themselves.
    Be doers of the word, not merely hearers deceiving themselves.
    ↳ What word have you heard but not yet put into practice?
    Luke 6:46: "Now why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?
    Christ questions calling him Lord without doing his commands.
    ↳ Where do your actions contradict calling Jesus Lord this week?
    John 14:15: "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
    Love for Christ proven through obedience, not passive listening.
    ↳ Does your obedience actually reflect your claimed love for Christ?
    Matthew 7:21: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
    Kingdom entry requires doing the Father's will, changed living.
    ↳ How is the Father's will visibly shaping your daily choices?
    Numbers 9:17: Whenever the cloud was lifted from over the tent, afterward the sons of Israel would set out; and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the sons of Israel would camp.
    God kept Israel moving, breaking monotony toward new vistas.
    ↳ Where might God be calling you to move, not stay comfortable?

A. W. Tozer (1897–1963) was an American pastor and writer in the Christian and Missionary Alliance, born in La Jose, Pennsylvania. He pastored Southside Alliance Church in Chicago from 1928 to 1959 and Avenue Road Church in Toronto from 1959 until his death there in 1963. From 1950 he edited The Alliance Weekly (later The Alliance Witness). His best-known books are "The Pursuit of God" (1948) and "The Knowledge of the Holy" (1961).

Sources: Wikipedia

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