Tozer and P90X

When I was in college and seminary the only books I read were for class. Ask me if I had to read any Tozer and the answer would be “No.” I can’t believe I spent 6 years attending Christian college/seminary and wasn’t required to read any of Tozer’s work. You may ask “How is that even possible?” I have no idea. Maybe I missed that required reading list.

All this to say that I’m finally catching up on my own “personal required reading list.” So, I’m a bit behind and it’s taken me another 6 years to get around to reading his stuff. I’m currently reading “The Pursuit of God.” It’s impossible to read quickly, yet it’s not so difficult and heady as I originally thought. As I continue to read, I keep thinking that my high school students would love this stuff. (So, if you’re a high schooler, go to the Exclamations bookstore and buy it..and then we’ll talk about it). Anyway, I soak in a chapter at a time and like to spend time going back over the underlined sentences.

Here’s the lines that hit me today.

“And always He is trying to get our attention, to reveal Himself to us, to communicate with us. We have within us the ability to know Him if we will but respond to His overtures.”

This chapter focuses on spiritual receptivity. I’ve always wondered about this. Tozer asks “Why do some find God and others don’t?” He goes on to say “God has no favorites within His household. All He has ever done for any of His children He will do for all of His children. the difference lies not with God but with us.” So our spiritual receptivity is not up to God, it’s up to us. He uses exercise as an example of how we grow or neglect our spiritual connection to God. I’ve always said that we are either growing closer to God or getting farther away from God. God is the constant. We are the ones who move.

I can related to Tozer’s exercise analogy for spiritual growth. Last May, I started doing P90X (a 90 day exercise video series). I did all 90 days throughout the summer and at the end I felt pretty good. And then I let life get in the way and took a break instead of starting over the series (like most people do). My energy started to decrease, and my body changed shape (for the worse). Why do I always think that if I just check something off the “to-do list” I never have to come back to it? Exercise needs to be a part of our life, always. We can never be done with caring for our body. I think we can be done dieting or losing weight, but we can never be done with taking care of the temple that God gave us. Ugh, right?

Yet, the same is true for our spiritual growth. I’ve seen so many people stop, give up, or simply check “God” off on their life to do list. I’ve seen confirmation be “graduation” instead of a next step in their faith journey. I know people who have no spiritual receptivity.. and it’s not God’s fault. Sometimes I think it’s my fault. I’m in the ministry to create receptivity, to be a part of creating fuel for spiritual fire. But there are days where I think of students, parents, friends who have stopped “exercising” their faith. Is it the fault of the church that hasn’t created the education or done enough to express the spiritual nutrition of it’s club members?

I think the answer lies in how each of us open our eyes and hearts. To ask the question “What is my spiritual receptivity level right now?”

May we be receptive to God in new ways today because...

“And always He is trying to get our attention, to reveal Himself to us, to communicate with us. We have within us the ability to know Him if we will but respond to his overtures.”