Why Do I Like A. W. Tozer So Much?

Because he says it like it is.

It is doubtful whether we can be Christian in anything unless we are Christian in everything. To obey Christ in one or two or ten instances and then in fear of consequences to back away and refuse to obey in another is to cloud our life with the suspicion that we are only fair-weather followers and not true believers at all. To obey when it costs us nothing and refuse when the results are costly is to convict ourselves of moral trifling and gross insincerity....

Ouch!

Obviously, he's not talking about the person who out of ignorance of the scriptures doesn't obey Christ, but the one who knows and refuses when the cost of obedience is more than they are willing to pay.

Obedience in the Christian life is interesting, especially in this culture. We've had it so ingrained into our fiber that "No one's going to tell me what to do!" that even when it is God Almighty himself doing the telling we question his right to guide our lives. Forget that he might know better than us what is actually good for us! I know I've spent the majority of my life operating from that perspective. It really is a wonder and a work of God's grace that I would be obedient to anyone ~~ even him! I'm so thankful that every time I begin to balk, he reminds me of where I was before he came along. It's like he's saying, "Okay, you can have it your way if you want, but this was the result last time. Are you sure you want to go there again?" Sometimes I need that reminder.

Obedience is also interesting because often I'm not the only one who pays the price for my obedience. My husband will be without his wife for two weeks because of my obedience. My daughter will not have a parent at her graduation from paramedic school because of my obedience. I'm grateful to both of them, but it is costly at times to obey the Lord. All I can say there, though, is that he is worthy of anything he might ask of me. He gave his all for me. How could I give any less? That would be the height of ingratitude, wouldn't it?

Obedience is interesting too because sometimes I don't see what God is doing in my life until AFTER I obey. In other words, it's a faith thing, and obedience is really the proving ground of faith - so much so that in the scriptures belief and obedience are nearly identical. This fascinates me for lots of reasons. Like where exactly is the dividing line between belief and unbelief. There seems to be lots of scriptural indication that the dividing line is obedience. I can say that I believe God until I'm blue in the face, but until that belief comes out of my life in obedience, I'm really just fooling myself.

But be ye doers of the word,
and not hearers only,
deceiving your own selves.

For if any be a hearer of the word,
and not a doer,
he is like unto a man
beholding his natural face in a glass:

For he beholdeth himself,
and goeth his way,
and straightway forgetteth
what manner of man he was.

But whoso looketh
into the perfect law of liberty,
and continueth therein,
he being not a forgetful hearer,
but a doer of the work,
this man shall be blessed in his deed.

If any man among you seem to be religious,
and bridleth not his tongue,
but deceiveth his own heart,
this man’s religion is vain.

Pure religion and undefiled
before God and the Father is this,
To visit the fatherless
and widows in their affliction,
and to keep himself unspotted from the world.