. . . God gave them over . . .God gave them over . . . he gave them over . . .
— Romans 1:24, 26, 28
Philosophically man has lost his way. Could he think himself out of his age-old predicament he would long ago have done it, for the world has had more than enough serious-minded men of superior intellectual endowments to examine every rabbit path in all the meadows of human thought and to explore every forest and wilderness in search of the way. Since the first fallen man got still long enough to think, 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.
Did the answer lie somewhere hidden like a jewel it would surely have been uncovered, for the most penetrating minds of the race have searched for it. Not a foot of ground but has been spaded up, neither is there crevice or cave anywhere in the region of human experience but has been spied into thoroughly and often as the centuries passed. 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. The fearful indictment the Holy Ghost brings against mankind is summed up count by count in the opening chapters of Romans and the conduct of every man from earliest recorded history to the present moment is evidence enough to sustain the indictment.
thought
To the great questions of life there are no answers except those that terrify and condemn. Life is lent us and none of us know how much is left. We have turned from God to our own way. God has given us over but He has also loved us so much He has given H
prayer
Apart from You, Lord, there are only thick, black clouds. My only hope is to keep on going, trusting You. Hallelujah!
Thomas said to him, Lord, we dont know where you are going, so how can we know the way?
— John 14:5
It is a simple axiom of the traveler that 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. Sometimes there will be an end to the road, and maybe sooner than he knows; but when he has gone the last step of the way will he find himself in a tomorrow of light and peace, or will the toward which he journeys be a of trouble and distress, a of wasteness and desolation, a of darkness and gloominess, a of clouds and thick darkness?
The inspired prophet Jeremiah says (and for that matter all the holy prophets who have spoken since the world began say) and our Lord and His apostles say that 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. The worried Thomas spoke for every man when he asked, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? That is the truth and we had better face it squarely: the way of man is not in himself. 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 they know not, there may in the mercy of God be hope; for those who think they know there can be only increasing darkness.
thought
We think we know the road we are traveling and then in a moment everything comes crashing down around us-sorrow, sickness, disappointment, failure. Our hearts cry out: We dont know the way! Then we sense the quiet voice of Jesus: I am the Way, follow me.
prayer
All the way You lead me, Lord. You are the Way. I have only to follow whether in the bright sunshine or the clouds of darkness.
Among the many wonders of the Holy Scriptures is their ability frequently to compress into a sentence truth so vast, so complex, as to require a whole shelf of books to expound.
Even a single phrase may glow with a light like that of the ancient pillar of fire and its shining may illuminate the intellectual landscape for miles around.
An example is found in Jeremiah 10:23. After the Lord had spoken of the vanity of idols and had set in contrast to the gods of the heathen the glory of the living God, the King of Eternity, the prophet responded in an inspired exclamation that very well states the whole problem of humankind: O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.
The prophet here turns to a figure of speech, one which appears in the Scriptures so frequently that it is not easy to remember that it is but a figure.
Man is seen as a traveler making his difficult way from a past he can but imperfectly recollect into a future about which he knows nothing.
And he cannot stay, but must each morning strike his moving tent and journey on toward-and there is the heavy problem-toward what?
verse
I know, O LORD, that a mans life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.
— Jeremiah 10:23
thought
It is not for us to direct our steps but how often we try. Only God knows the way ahead. The Good Shepherd leads if we will but follow.
prayer
It is for You to direct my steps. Today, Good Shepherd, lead me and I will follow.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
The dream of a universal brotherhood based upon the ethics of Jesus is just that-a dream.
It is compounded of a few words of Christ mixed with vast numbers of uninspired words spoken by men whose yearnings are to be commended but whose wisdom is suspect. To arrive at the doctrine of brotherhood it is necessary that we reject the major portion of the New Testament and misunderstand the rest.
There were once two brothers. They lived in a society that had not had time to develop the many social evils we know today.
Yet one killed the other because sin was there. If two brothers in the morning of the world could not get on together, how can we hope that the gentle teachings of Jesus can ever bring brotherhood to a race filled with complex iniquities, where men inherit hates and where the souls of all are lacerated by jealousy, envy, egotism, greed and lust?
The hope of the individual is the new birth and the acceptance of the teachings of Christ as a way of life.
The hope of the race is that Christ shall come again to earth. Even so, Lord, come quickly.
verse
Jesus replied: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all you soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.
— Matthew 22:37-39
thought
Can men and women obey the Great Commandments without submitting themselves to the Great Commander? Lets not be shocked when unbelievers fail to live by the Great Commandments. But what is our excuse for not doing so?
prayer
Forgive me, Lord, for expecting of others Christlike living when they have never been born of You. By Your Spirit show me those areas of life in which it is me living and not You.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
The ethics of Jesus must be imposed upon society, we are told, then all inequalities will vanish; the division of humanity into rich and poor, great and small, privileged and underprivileged will be no more.
Under the benign influence of Christs ethics of love, greed and war will disappear from the earth and the dream of universal brotherhood be realized at last.
The teachings of Jesus belong to the Church, not to society. In society is sin and sin is hostility to God. Christ did not teach that He would impose His teachings upon the fallen world.
He called His disciples to Him and taught them, and everywhere throughout His teachings there is the overt or implied idea that His followers will constitute an unpopular minority group in an actively hostile world. The divine procedure is to go into the world of fallen men, preach to them the necessity to repent and become disciples of Christ and, after making disciples, to teach them the ethics of Jesus, which Christ called all things whatsoever I have commanded you.
The ethics of Jesus cannot be obeyed or even understood until the life of God has come to the heart of a man in the miracle of the new birth.
The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in them who walk in the Spirit.
Christ lives again in His redeemed follower the life He lived in Judea; for righteousness can never be divorced from its source, which is Jesus Christ Himself.
verse
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them . . . and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. . . .
— Matthew 28:19-20
thought
We all discover that we cant practice the ethics of Jesus without His enablement. He makes that enablement available to us by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
prayer
O Christ, I am breathing out my own life, that I may be filled with Thine; letting go my strength and weakness, breathing in Thy life divine.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
It may seem a bit odd that the religious teachers who exalted the teachings of Jesus to the seventh empyrean should in the same breath demote the person of Jesus to the level of a common man; yet they did just that.
They lamented with many a crocodile tear the error of the Church in worshiping Jesus and failing to spread His ethics throughout the earth.
The implication was that the man Jesus was important only because of the sterling quality of His ethics; though it was hard for some then and it is hard for others now to understand how a mans teaching can be greater than the man.
The same persons who exalted His doctrine of love completely ignored His claim to deity and brushed aside His teachings on sin, judgment and hell, as well as His whole system of eschatology. This arrogant picking and choosing among the words of Christ gave some persons the impression that these teachers were far less sincere than they claimed to be, for a man need not be a genius to reach the conclusion that if Jesus was wrong about almost all of His teachings there could be no certainty that He was right about the rest.
Well, it is not my intention to fight again the battle of Bunker Hill. If all this belonged only to the past we might be content to let the dead bury their dead and pass on to something else; but the ghosts of the old Modernists appear to have been reincarnated and many of the arguments raised by the liberals a generation ago are now being repeated by the orthodox.
verse
They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
— Acts 2:42
thought
It seems that in each generation certain biblical teaching is debated as to the authors intent, meaning, cultural context and whether locally or universally applicable. Current issues include homosexual practice and the nature of family. Do disciples hav
prayer
Lord, keep me from error in understanding Your Word and the response You desire from me to it. In Jesus name.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
The truth in the Person of the Logos, the Word, is seeking to illuminate the minds of men.
That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
For this reason, when we conceive ourselves to be honest seekers who cannot find the light we are in a state of dangerous self-deception.
It is a grave situation.
Unless help comes quickly the darkness may close down upon us permanently. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness. Behind all our failure to find light is an unconfessed and possibly an unconscious love of darkness.
This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God (John 3:19-21).
We should always remember that we are accountable not only for the light we have but also for the light we might have if we were willing to obey it.
Truth is sovereign and will not allow itself to be trifled with.
And it is easy to find for it is trying to find us.
Obedience is the big problem: and unwillingness to obey is the cause of continued darkness.
verse
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
— John 3:19
thought
Are we going through life with our eyes closed to the light because we love darkness? Rise up to obey the Light and more light will flood into our lives. We have been reborn to walk in light.
prayer
Shine, Jesus, shine in this heart of mine. Expose those pockets of darkness. I want to live in the sunlight of Your love.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
Our Lord said, I am the Truth, and again He said, The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Truth therefore is not hard to find for the very reason that it is seeking us.
Truth is not a thing for which we must search, but a Person to whom we must hearken.
This is taught or taken for granted in the record of Gods dealings with men throughout the Sacred Scriptures.
After the sin in Eden it was not Adam who cried O God, where art Thou? but God who cried Where art thou? as He sought for Adam among the trees of the Garden.
Abraham heard God speak and responded, but it was God who was the aggressor.
God appeared unto Jacob before Jacob came to appear before God. And in the burning bush God revealed Himself to Moses.
Again and again did God take the initiative.
He sought for Gideon and found him on the threshing floor of Ophrah.
He showed Himself to Isaiah when there is no evidence that Isaiah was seeking Him.
Before Jeremiah was born God laid His hand upon him, and He opened heaven to let the discouraged priest Ezekiel see a vision and hear a voice.
Amos said he was not a prophet neither a prophets son, but the Lord took him as he followed the flock.
Again God was the aggressor.
In the New Testament things are not otherwise. True, multitudes came to Christ for physical help, but only rarely did one seek Him out to learn the truth; and even that rare one usually turned away when the truth was told him.
The whole picture in the Gospels is one of a seeking Savior, not one of seeking men.
The truth was hunting for those who would receive it, and relatively few did. Many are called, but few are chosen.
verse
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.
— Luke 19:10
thought
Christ is the Truth. He is also the seeker of lost people. Long before we ever sought truth, Truth was seeking us.
prayer
Before I ever reached out to You, You were reaching out to me. All praise to You, Im found!
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
It is born in every man to want to dramatize his life and to cast himself as the star of the performance .
Once let a man become persuaded that he is a hero in quest of the holy grail of truth and he becomes a victim of a pretty and pleasant delusion that inflates his ego and blinds him to the very truth he claims to seek. And if he is later forced to admit that he has not found it he absolves himself from all guilt, for has he not searched?
Has he not hunted through the years for the precious treasure?
Where is the stone he has left unturned?
Where has he not drilled or digged among the philosophies and religions of the world?
Why then has he not found?
To him there can be only one answer: The Spirit and Wisdom of the universe has let him down.
The great Oversoul has withheld the secret from him. So he tells himself and in wounded dignity walks stiffly into the sunset convinced that he has been deeply wronged in his effort to discover lifes summum bonum. His is a tragedy worthy of Aeschylus and he himself grand in failure and noble in defeat. Disillusioning people is a thankless task and quite plainly does not come under the category of making friends and thinking positively.
Nevertheless it must be done if we are to rescue lost men from the consequences of their delusions.
So let me say boldly that it is not the difficulty of discovering truth but the unwillingness to obey it that makes it so rare among men.
verse
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
— John 8:31-32
thought
Often it is the simple, marginally educated people who find ultimate truth while the intelligentsia search in vain. The reason is that truth to be discovered must be obeyed.
prayer
Thank You, Father, for the example of common but godly people whose lives have demonstrated to me that the simplest may find the truth if they are but willing to obey it.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/