8.12.2013 THAT INCREDIBLE CHRISTIAN by a.w. tozer

'the witness of the church is most effective when she declares rather than explains,
for the gospel is addressed not to reason but to faith.
what can be proved requires no faith to accept.
faith rests upon the character of God,
not the demonstrations of laboratory or logic.


'the christian believes that in Christ he has died,
yet he is more alive than before
and he fully expects to live forever.
he walks on earth while seated in heaven
and though born on earth
he finds that after his conversion he is not at home here.
like the nighthawk, which in the air is the essence of grace and beauty
but on the ground is awkward and ugly,
so the christian appears at his best in the heavenly places
but does not fit well into the ways of the very society into which he was born.

the christian soon learns that if he would be victorious as a son of heaven
among men on earth
he must not follow the common pattern of mankind,
but rather the contrary.
that he may be safe he puts himself in jeopardy;
he loses his life to save it
and is in danger of losing it if he attempts to preserve it.
he goes down to get up.
if he refuses to go down he is already down,
but when he starts down he is on his way up.

he is strongest when he is weakest
and weakest when he is strong.
though poor he has the power to make others rich.
but when he becomes rich his ability to enrich others vanishes.
he has most after he has given most away
and has least when he possesses most.

he may be and often is highest when he feels lowest
and most sinless when he is most conscious of sin.
he is wisest when he knows that he knows not
and knows least when he has acquired the greatest amount of knowledge.
he sometimes does most by doing nothing
and goes furthest when standing still
in pain he rejoices;
when all around gives way, he is completely satisfied (in Jesus!)
(i'm altering tozer on this last couplet.)

....in god's presence he feels overwhelmed and undone,
yet there is nowhere he would rather be than in that presence.
he knows that he has been cleansed from his sin,
yet he is painfully conscious that in his flesh dwells no good thing.

he loves supremely One whom he has never seen
and though himself poor and lowly
he talks familiarly with One who is King of all kings and Lord of all lords,
and is aware of no incongruity in so doing.
he feels that he is in his own right altogether less than nothing,
yet he believes without question that he is the apple of God's eye...

..the cross carrying christian, furthermore, is both a confirmed pessimist
and an optimist the like of which is to be found nowhere else on earth.
when he looks at the cross he is a pessimist,
for he knows that the same judgment that fell on the Lord of glory
condemns in that one act all nature and all the world of men.
he rejects every human hope our(side?) of Christ
because he knows that man's noblest effort is only dust building on dust.
yet he is calmly, restfully optimistic,
if the cross condemns the world the resurrection of Christ
guarantees the ultimate triumph of good throughout the universe.
through Christ all will be well at last
and the christian waits the consummation.
incredible christian!