Strength for Today

Martin Luther once wrote a letter to his friend Erasmus, saying, "Your thoughts of God are too human." I wonder if that is not true of us as well. And I'm not just talking about those who flippantly refer to God as "the man upstairs" or treat Him as a "cosmic bellhop." A. W. Tozer said, "It is my opinion that the Christian conception of God current in these middle years of the 20th century is so decadent as to be utterly beneath the dignity of the Most High God and actually to constitute for professed believers something amounting to a moral calamity." (And Tozer wrote that in 1961. What would he say today?) My friend Given O. Blakely says that "God" is mentioned in Scripture 4,447 times, "Lord" 1,055 times, and "LORD" (Jehovah) 6,528 times. Surely these numbers alone demand a careful study of God. Charles Spurgeon said that nothing would enlarge the intellect or magnify the soul of man as a "devout, earnest, continued, investigation" of God. A study of God is vital to your life. Eternity is at stake. Really, it is. Jesus prayed, "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3). Several years ago I preached from this text in India. In the crowd were Christians, Muslims, and Hindus. You talk about a relevant text! Hindus worship 33 million deities, but Jesus said there is only one true God! Muslims honor Jesus but only as a prophet. The text says knowing Jesus as the One whom God sent will result in eternal life. The knowledge of God is the most important thing in the world. "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this -- that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD..." (Jer. 9:23, 34). How well do you know God? Are your thoughts of God "too human"? God wants us to know Him more than He wants our worship. That may sound strange in the modern church culture but check out Hosea 6:6. "For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings."