In his great book The Knowledge of the Holy, A. W. Tozer says, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”
In this video and the following transcript, I share some thoughts about the quote and book:
I remember having lunch a couple years ago with Gerry Breshears, theology professor at Western Seminary, and Bruce Ware, who teaches theology at Southern Seminary. We were there with another friend.
Bruce asked me the question, “Randy, of all books besides the Bible itself, what book has had the greatest influence on your life?” And I said, “That’s easy to answer. Without a doubt it’s A. W. Tozer’s book The Knowledge of the Holy.”
Bruce looked at me and said, “You’re kidding. That’s the book that has had the biggest influence on my life.”
And then Gerry Breshears said, “I’m not kidding! That’s the number one book for me.”
The Knowledge of the Holy is a book that I think people need to read, because Tozer writes things like this: the most important thing about any of us is what we think of God. He says that if you know what a person really believes in his or her heart that God is like, you will be able to predict with certainty the spiritual future of that person.
What we think about God determines so much about us. If we get it wrong about God, it doesn’t matter in some ways what else we get right.
Look at Jesus. Who is Jesus? If you don’t believe He is God incarnate in human flesh, if you don’t believe He could take upon Himself the sins of the whole world and be that perfect, sinless, infinitely holy sacrifice on our behalf, then you can say you “believe” in Jesus. You can say you “believe” in God. But in the end, does it really matter? Because is the God you are talking about the real God of the Bible? Is the Jesus you’re talking about the real Jesus?
Now I’ll ask you: besides the Bible, what book has had the most profound influence on your life?
Photo by James Coleman on Unsplash
