What's the most important thing about you?

A couple of years ago I read a book for a seminary class that I was taking written by A.W. Tozer called Knowledge of the Holy, I didn’t make it through the first chapter before something that he said stopped me dead in my tracks. I couldn’t even continue reading, I just read the one line over and over for awhile…

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

I highlighted and underlined it… cause I’m hardcore like that. I started to really wrestle with whether this statement was true or not… Is my view of God more important than what kind of husband I am? Or what kind of father I am? Or what I do as a pastor? Are my thoughts about God really the most important thing about me?

A few weeks later, I traveled down to Redding and spent a week in the class that had assigned this book, the very first day of class we spent well over two hours talking about this one line of this one small book…

I grew to believe that this statement is absolutely true… My understanding of the nature of God affects every thought and action in my life. It’s not that it’s more important than all those other things… it is the very basis of all those other things.

If I believe that Jesus is a loving husband to His bride, the Church, and loves His bride completely and totally, even unto sacrificing His very life for her… then I should live as a husband that loves my wife completely and totally, who is willing to love and care for her completely… and put her well being ahead of even my own.

If I believe that God is a loving Father who stopped at nothing to pursue His children and loves them unconditionally, who tenderly guides His children to the right path… then I should be a father who deeply longs to love my children in the same amazing way.

If I believe that He is a High Priest that can sympathize with my weaknesses and patiently leads me towards growth, without condemnation or guilt… then I should be a pastor that treats people with the same care and love, who can empathize with the pain and struggles that people endure… and constantly point them back to the Truth that can bring strength to their lives.

Unfortunately, I think that this truth can negatively affect us as well…

If I viewed God as a malevolent dictator who views the Church as His property… What kind of husband would I be?

If I viewed God as a distant patriarch who set the world in motion then took off… What kind of father would I be?

If I viewed God as an angry wrathful deity, just waiting to rain down judgment… What kind of pastor would I be?

I am continually realizing how true Tozer’s statement is, and how it impacts every part of my life. I long to know God and His heart for my wife, my children, and the people he has entrusted into my care. I long for these things because I do believe that God is a loving groom, a faithful father, and a compassionate high priest…

And those beliefs shape everything about who I am, and who I want to become…

What comes into your mind when you think about God?

And how does that shape how you think, act, live, pray, and love?

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