Matt's Muzings
What Do I Think About God?
A leader's true work is to Know God - intimately.
In YWAM we talk about knowing God and making Him known. But what does that mean? A. W. Tozer clarified this for me in the introduction of his book "Knowledge of the Holy". I have paraphrased part of it below. It is a great tool for meditation and reflection. Read it slowly.
Psa 48:10 As is Your name, O God, So is Your praise to the ends of the earth
What comes into a leader's mind when he thinks about God is the most important thing about him. Man's spiritual history will clearly demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God.
For this reason the most important question before any leader who wants to influence a people's spiritual destiny is always God Himself. The most prophetic fact about any leader is not what he at any given moment may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. For we know that every man, woman or child will tend by secret law of the soul to move towards their hearts revelation of God.
If we were able to distillate from any leader a complete answer to the question, "What rises in your heart when you think about God?" we might predict with certainty the spiritual future of him or her. If we were able to know exactly what our most influential religious leaders know about God, we would be able to foretell the influence of the Church for this generation.
That our heart revelation of God match the reality of who He is, is of immense importance to all leaders. For our heart revelation may lie buried under the rubbish of traditional religious opinions and will require a heart rendering search before it is finally unearthed and exposed for what it is.
A right heart revelation of God is basic not only to any thinking about God and the world but profoundly affects all aspects of Christian living as well. It is to worship and service what a foundation is to a building. Where it is inadequate, weak or out of plumb the whole structure must sooner or later collapse. For I believe that there is scarcely an error in theology or a failure in influencing a nation that cannot be traced back to an imperfect or ignoble understanding of God.
As we begin a new Millennium, it is my opinion that the modern day revelation of God is so inadequate and incomplete as to constitute a spiritual and moral crises.
An example of this can be seen in our understanding of holiness. If we were to expose our heart revelation of His holiness and compare it to the reality of Him before whom the Cherubim and Seraphim do continually cry "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty" it would be seen as nothing short of a calamity. In a nation where there is little to no moral difference between a Christian and a non-Christian, it can be seen as a crises on the same level as September 11.
The knowledge of the Glory of God cannot fill the earth and be revealed through a people who do not have a heart revelation of it. The rocks may rise up and praise Him if we fail, but he is worthy of so much more than the praise of rocks. Join me anew in discovering intimacy with the risen Lord.