Levity In Addressing God

"Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears" (2 Samuel 7:22)

Those who heard Luther's prayers have told us of the tremendous effect they often had upon the listeners. He would begin in moving humility, his spirit face down in utter self-abnegation, and sometimes rise to a boldness of petition that would startle the hearers.

There is among us today a pseudo-mysticism which affects a tender intimacy with God but lacks that breathless awe which the true worshiper must always feel in the presence of the Holy God. This simpering spirit sometimes expresses itself in religious baby talk wholly unworthy of those who are addressing the Most High God.

To hear a so-called Christian ... addressing  words of saccharine sweetness to one whom he or she calls "Jesus dear," is a shocking experience for anyone who has once seen heaven opened and stood speechless before the Holy Presence. No one who has ever bowed before the Burning Bush can thereafter speak lightly of God, much less be guilty of levity in addressing Him.

When Horace Bushnell prayed in the field under the night sky, his friend who knelt by his side drew in his arms close to his body. "I was afraid to stretch out my hands," he said, "lest I touch God."

God, I come to You in intimacy, but also with the awe and reverence of a subject before a majestic King. Amen

_____________________________

Becoming What We Love

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John 2:15)

We are all in process of becoming. We have already moved from what we were to what we are, and we are now moving toward what we shall be.

Not only are we all in the process of becoming, we are becoming what we love. We are to a large degree the sum of our loves and we will of moral necessity grow into the image of what we love most; for love is among other things a creative affinity; it changes and molds and shapes and transforms. It is without doubt the most powerful agent affecting human nature next to the direct action of the Holy Spirit of God within the soul.

What we love is therefore not a small matter to be lightly shrugged off; rather it is of present, critical and everlasting importance. It is prophetic of our future. It tells us what we shall be, and so predicts accurately our eternal destiny.

This furnishes in part (but only in part) a rational explanation for the first and greatest commandment: "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind" (Matthew 22:37).

To become like God is and must be the supreme goal of all moral creatures. This is the reason for their creation, the end apart from which no excuse can be found for their existence.

Lord, wean me from unworthy loves, and give me a pure, full love for You, that I might become like You. Amen

~A. W. Tozer~