A. W. Tozer, a pastor in Chicago from 1928 to 1959, wrote what has become a modern classic: The Pursuit of God (1948).
The tone of the book is both humble and bold, both gentle and fierce. Tozer is honest about his own spiritual shortcomings. And yet, at the same time, he does not hold back on urging all who claim to follow Jesus to allow the reign of Christ to prevail in every corner of their lives. Tozer is especially incensed at spiritual hypocrisy and those who practice a “nominal” faith.
What’s more, people who claim to have faith but lack a hunger for more of Christ are in spiritual danger. You see, “To have found God and still to pursue him is the soul’s paradox of love” (p. 21). But many “have been snared in the coils of a spurious logic which insists that if we have found Him, we need no more seek Him” (22). “Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth” (23).
One pattern Tozer confronts is when God’s gifts “take the place of God” (28). The Lord wants to remove all idols from the temple of your heart so he can reign there unchallenged (32). The experience of God’s presence “is more than a doctrine to be held; it is a life to be enjoyed every moment of every day” (42). After all, God’s presence “is the central fact of Christianity” (43). So Tozer asks: “Why do we consent to abide all our days just outside the Holy of Holies and never enter at all to look upon God?” (49).
By contrast, if we walk with Jesus in loving obedience, “… God will manifest Himself to us, and that manifestation will be the difference between a nominal Christian life and a life radiant with the light of His face” (70). And receiving the voice of God in Scripture is vital: “If you would follow on to know the Lord, come at once to the open Bible expecting it to speak to you. Do not come with the notion that it is a thing which you may push around at your convenience. It is more than a thing; it is a voice, a word, the very Word of the living God” (88).
