More of God...not buildings!!

I have really been enjoying The Attributes of God by A.W. Tozer, there is so much to glean from this insightful book and it's only the first volume!

Something that struck me this morning as I read the last chapter entitled "God's Perfection" was Tozer's thoughts on the state of the church, this was written in the fifties but it is so relevant for today, he writes; " If you want to pray strategically, in a way which would please God, pray that God might raise up men who would begin to see the beauty of the Lord our God and would begin to preach it and hold it out to people, instead of offering peace of mind, deliverance from cigarettes, a better job and a nicer cottage."

That definitely flies in the face of the "your best life now" mentality that has unfortunately infiltrated the church today, God definitely blesses us and takes care of us, he even delivers us from bad habits but as Tozer states, "they are only incidentals. They're the kindergarten state of religion."

He goes on to talk about all of the "things" that we do in the name of religion, "What good is all our busy religion if God isn't in it? what good is it if we've lost majesty, reverence, worship-an awareness of the divine? What good is it if we've lost a sense of the Presence and the ability to retreat within our own hearts and meet God in the garden? If we've lost that, why build another church? Why make more converts to an effete(unable to produce, impotent) Christianity? Why bring people to follow after a Savior so far off that He doesn't own them?"

Oh, that we would seek God more, seek the one who blesses and not the blessing. May we seek more of the beauty of God, to know him and him alone no matter what the cost.