what do you think about, when you think about God?

August 8, 2003

i picked up a book by a.w. tozer called the "knowledge of the holy" over the past weekend. i've been waiting to get my hands on a book by a.w. tozer, because he was louie giglio's mentor. i love louie giglio. and so i wanted to know about this man who made such a deep impact in louie's life, because louie's made a big impact in my life.

in any case, i started reading it on tuesday morning, one chapter a day. the chapters are really short, only a few pages, but i've taken my time to read through it slowly. the first chapter really challenged me in the way that i think about idolatry. tozer writes it like this:

"let us beware lest we in our pride accept the erroneous notion that idolatry consists only in kneeling before visible objects of adoration, and that civilised peoples are therefore free from it. the essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him..." and continues with this, "wrong ideas about God are not only the fountain from which polluted waters of idolatry flow; they are themselves idolatrous. the idolater simply imagines things about God and acts if they were true."

he began the chapter by saying "what comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you" because the way we think about God is the way we'll act towards Him. and that shapes who we are, what we think, what we say and what we do. that's why it's the most important thing about us. the danger of thinking wrong things about God, is that we'll act out towards a wrong image of God, and that is idolatry, because we've made God to be something He is not. how important is it, therefore, to saturate ourselves in the holy Scriptures with a burning desire to know about the attributes of our Father without any hesitation or excuse?

what do you think about, when you think about God? it's the most important thing about you.

"Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess." (hebrews 3:1 [NIV])

Posted by Leo Chan at August 8, 2003 11:15 AM