Good Quote to Consider

Started reading Francis Chan’s latest book “Forgotten God” this week.  At the start of one of the chapters, he quoted A. W. Tozer.  I’ve heard Tozer’s name and even have one of his books.  Other than that I really don’t much about him.  I did check to see that his life spanned between April 21, 1897 – May 12, 1963.  What he says sounds so much like us today, I was curious to see when he lived.

Here’s the quote:

“We may as well face it: the whole level of spirituality among us is low.  We have measured ourselves against ourselves until the incentive to seek higher plateaus in the things of the Spirit is all but gone . . . [We] have imitated the world, sought popular favor, manufactured delights to substitute for the joy of the Lord and produced a cheap and synthetic  power to substitute for the power of the Holy Ghost.”

. . . we have measured ourselves against ourselves . . .

. . . we have manufactured delights to substitute for the joy of the Lord . . .

When I read that quote, I thought about us in 2010.  That’s exactly what we (I) do.  Don’t we compare ourselves with others?  Don’t we also try to create things in our life to give us joy?  Look at all the “stuff” we have or want.  Isn’t it primarily there because we are trying to bring  ourselves joy (or what we call happiness)?    It is.  I’ve done it and I’m pretty sure you have probably done it, too.

Hopefully it moves us to identify those things we use as substitutes and seek to allow the Lord to be our source of joy and the One whom we measure ourselves against.