True Discipleship: Embracing the Call to Follow Jesus to Calvary with Faith, Sacrifice, and Devotion (Grapevine Edition) (The Essential A. W. Tozer: Teachings on Christian Life Book 3)

by A.W. Tozer

A little of the world, and a little of God. Or perhaps a lot of the world, and a little of God

is to play with your eternal soul.

half-hearted, lukewarm obedience has no place in scripture.

And yet, the life of the disciple is not a painful one; it is rewarding beyond measure because it is a life lived to the fullest.

if he would arrive at the desired destination, he must take the right road. How far a man may have traveled is not important. What matters is whether or not he is going the right way, whether the path he is following will bring him out at the right place at last.

will he find himself in a tomorrow of light and peace? Or will the day toward which he journeys be “a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness”?

A little of the world, and a little of God. Or perhaps a lot of the world, and a little of God

to play with your eternal soul.

man does not know the way. Indeed, he hardly knows where he should go, to say nothing of the way he should take to get there.

half-hearted, lukewarm obedience has no place in scripture.

However severe the blow to our pride, we would do well to bow our heads and admit our ignorance. For those who know not and know that they know not, there may in the mercy of God be hope. For those who think they know, there can be only increasing darkness.

And yet, the life of the disciple is not a painful one; it is rewarding beyond measure because it is...

Man has lost his way philo...

fallen men have been asking these questions, “Whence came I? What am I? Why am I here? And where am I going?” The noblest minds of the race have struggled with these questions to no avail.

Yet the answers remain as securely hidden as if they did not exist. Why is man lost philosophically? Because he is lost morally and spiritually. He cannot answer the questions life presents to his intellect because the light of God has gone out in his soul.

“When they knew God, they glorified him not as God,” read the terrible words, “neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things… who changed the truth of God into a lie.”

if he would arrive at the desired destination, he must take the right road. How far a man may have traveled is not important. What matters is whether or not he is going the right way, whether the path he is following will bring him out at the right place at last.

“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness: according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.” Apart from the Scriptures we have no sure philosophy; apart from Jesus Christ we have no true knowledge of God; apart from the inliving Spirit we have no ability to live lives morally pleasing to God. How wonderful that Christ could say, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” For this we can never be thankful enough.

will he find himself in a tomorrow of light and peace? Or will the day toward which he journeys be “a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness”?

man does not know the way. Indeed, he hardly knows where he should go, to say nothing of the way he should take to get there.

Intimacy with the Creator separates man from all other of God’s creation. The great passion buried in the breast of every human being created in the image of God is to experience this awesome majesty of His presence. However, several things stand in the way of man’s striving toward the presence of God in personal, intimate familiarity.

However severe the blow to our pride, we would do well to bow our heads and admit our ignorance. For those who know not and know that they know not, there may in the mercy of God be hope. For those who think they know, there can be only increasing darkness.

Man has lost his way philo...

As created beings, man longs for the presence of the Creator, but in himself cannot find it.

fallen men have been asking these questions, “Whence came I? What am I? Why am I here? And where am I going?” The noblest minds of the race have struggled with these questions to no avail.

Such is the plight of humanity. We are born to ascend into the very environment of God’s presence where we belong; but something has clipped our wings, disabling us from responding to the cry from within.

Yet the answers remain as securely hidden as if they did not exist. Why is man lost philosophically? Because he is lost morally and spiritually. He cannot answer the questions life presents to his intellect because the light of God has gone out in his soul.

Because man is shut out of the presence of God, he suff...

The greatest hindrance, of course, is the fact that God is unapproachable. Sin has created an unmana...

The good news, however, is that Christ has paid the debt and bridged that gap to God for all. But there are still at least three challenges that stand in ma...

“When they knew God, they glorified him not as God,” read the terrible words, “neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds...

The first obstruction is the moral bankruptcy of...

This debt must be paid.

Religion does it through what is referred to as “good works,” resulting in emptiness and a deep-seated sense of guilt that nothing can wash away.

“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness: according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.” Apart from the Scriptures we have no sure philosophy; apart from Jesus Christ we have no true knowledge of God; apart from the inliving Spirit we have no ability to live lives morally pleasing to God. How wonderful that Christ could say, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” For this we can never be thankful enough.

But even if such a fund of merit could be achieved, it wo...

Secondly, man cannot enter the presence of God with the foul sc...

The very presence of sinful thoughts, for example, inhibits our approach in...

Intimacy with the Creator separates man from all other of God’s creation. The great passion buried in the breast of every human being created in the image of God is to experience this awesome majesty of His presence. However, several things stand in the way of man’s striving toward the presence of God in personal, intimate familiarity.

To come into the presence of God, we must conform in every way to His standard.

so that we may not only be forgiven but also cleansed.

The blood of Jesus Christ accomplished this stupendous act!

Man’s moral conscience, crying for pardon and cleansing before the presence of the great God, has now found it by an event, an act of the eternal S...

As created beings, man longs for the presence of the Creator, but in h...

He single-handedly purged our sins. He alone could do it, so He did it alone.

The present generation of Christians has also suffered what I call the lost concept of majesty.

Such is the plight of humanity. We are born to ascend into the very environment of God’s presence where we belong; but something has clipped our wings, disabling us from responding to the cry from within.

we cease to appreciate the majesty of God.

the Majesty is still in the heavens. This Majesty still sits on His throne before which angels, archangels, seraphim and cherubim continue to cry, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabbaoth.”

Because man is shut out of the presence of God, he suffers many maladies.