10/13 - Spiritual Amnesia

Please take a moment and read Psalm 19:1-4.

God is eternal. He is Holy. There is none and will never be one like Him. He is the Great I Am, the One who was and is and is to come. The angels & elders in heaven bow before Him so overwhelmed by His presence the only words they can utter are "Holy, Holy, Holy!" He reigns victorious over the earth and anything that attempts to exalt itself above Him.

I haven't said anything you haven't heard before. These are simply facts about God. Facts that ought to cause us to worship but if we were being honest, they don't always have that effect on us do they? As believers, we have what may be considered spiritual amnesia. No matter what God does for us, how many situations He brings us through, how many times He has undeniably shown Himself to us, we still forget. A. W. Tozer writes,

"What comes to our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us...Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason 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?"

If we weren't prone to forget, why would the Bible warn us so many times to do the things that remind of Him: daily study of the Word (Psalm 1:1-2), fellowship with other believers (Hebrews 10:24-25), tell others about Him (Ezekiel 33:8-10), adore His creation (Romans 1:20), etc. When we do these things, we keep in perspective why and Who we are serving. I believe what Tozer was getting at in that quote was that even more than our actions, the important thing is the motive behind them - our appreciation and adoration of a Holy God.

So as we strive to become more disciplined and more serious about living for God, we can guard ourselves from becoming "religious" by intentionally reminding ourselves of the holy & eternal Savior we serve. So instead of just doing through our day "doing stuff," we can take pause for a moment and reflect on Who we are "doing stuff" for and be guided by the Holy Spirit to accomplish it. I completely believe that if we'll do this, we'll find much more peace and confidence in our activities and vocation (John 14:25-27).