“For this reason [see last blog on God-Centeredness and Levels of Thought] the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward out mental image of God” (A.W. Tozer).
How can we argue with the first part of his sentence? But how many churches or people realize this at all? Church is thought to be the place where man is the focus. We are to do all that we can do to get people in the door and then to make them happy and welcome. In one sense, that is about as backwards as we can be. If unbelieving people who by definition are hostile to God come to church and God is there, then they will not be happy and comfortable. If the glory of God is truly declared, then many people who happily attend church now would be miserable if they stayed. Unless an individual loves God, then that individual will not be comfortable where the presence of a holy God is declared. However, it is only in churches like that where people will cry out as people did in the New Testament asking how they may be saved.
The Church today must force itself to face some questions with brutal honesty. The Church is the body of Christ and the Church is the household of God. God is the One who builds His house and He is the One that adds to it as He pleases. The gravest question that any church can ask is whether God comes to church or not. The church must do some deep searching of its soul and ask what it really believes about God. We must ask if we really want God to come to church and take over or maybe if we are just too concerned with order and our own comfort levels. God is the One we must deal with in our questions and in our answers. God is the One we must deal with in our intellects, our hearts and affections. The Church must wake up and realize that if it does nothing else it must please God. It must wake up and realize that it is actually practicing idolatry in its focus on people. What people really need is a church that will magnify and declare the glory of God and not center on them.
What do the people in our churches today conceive God to be like in the depths of their hearts? Notice Tozer says that it is not about what we “at a given time may say or do,” but it is our conception of God in the heart that is vital. People can fake a lot before other people. We can speak highly of God when in church or at other places. We can even speak highly of God in our own private times. But what do we really think of God in our hearts? We can do virtually all things that go under the name of Christian by fear or by forcing ourselves to do them. We can have high thoughts of God in our intellects and live moral lives. But what happens when something happens where we are denied what we really want? What happens when life crosses our desires and wills? Do we love God and stand in awe of Him no matter what happens? Do we conceive of God as a Divine Being who carries out our desires and wills? Do we only like Him when we think He is on our side? We must realize that God is not on our side; rather we are on His if we have truly submitted to Him and love Him.
Notice that in the above paragraph there are many religious things that people can do and even with a reasonable high view of God. But they always have a secret conception of God in their hearts. People always move and operate by that secret view. What we really conceive of as God deep in our hearts is perhaps the real determiner of our motives and loves in what we do. A hypocrite can have much outward show and appear to have a high view of God, but still be one deceived person. A person can think he loves God when in fact he only loves being loved by God and so is quite deceived. We can serve a god and think that our works are signs of sanctification when in fact they are only signs of deception. No, the God we conceive of must be the true God or we are serving an idol and all our works that we think of as good are really filthy rags.
The Church must strive to exalt God in all that it does so that the God people conceive of will be the true God. Of course teaching the true God does not guarantee that the people will understand, but how will they understand about the true God if they are constantly taught about a false god? How will people understand that they are not the true God and He does not serve them at their every whim if the church tries to do that to get them to stay at that church? No, the church must declare the true God so that God and those who love Him will love to meet together whenever the church meets. The true God must be declared so that people will be turned from their self-deception of false gods in their hearts and minds.
God Loves... Himself 
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