The image of God in man cannot extend to every part of mans being, for God has attributes which He cannot impart to any of His creatures, however favored. God is uncreated, self-existent, infinite, sovereign, eternal; these attributes are His alone and by their very definition cannot be shared with another.
But there are other attributes which He can impart to His creatures and in some measure share with His redeemed children. Intellect, self-consciousness, love, goodness, holiness, pity, faithfulness these and certain other attributes are the points where likeness between God and man may be achieved.
It is here that the divine-human friendship is experienced.
verse
And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend.
— James 2:23
thought
Abraham, despite weakness and failure, was called God's friend. Abraham believed God. He just believed God. Are we friends of God?
prayer
Lord, help us to discern and revere your attributes, while willfully exercising those which You have imparted to us for Your glory and our sanctification. Expand our faith beyond human limitations and weaknesses, that we may experience true intimacy with You.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
The idea of the divine-human friendship originated with God. Had not God said first Ye are my friends (John 15:14) it would be inexcusably brash for any man to say I am a friend of God.
But since He claims us for His friends it is an act of unbelief to ignore or deny the relationship. . . . Even though radically different from each other, two persons may enjoy the closest friendship for a lifetime; for it is not a requisite of friendship that the participants be alike in all things; it is enough that they be alike at the points where their personalities touch.
Harmony is likeness at points of contact, and friendship is likeness where hearts merge.
For this reason the whole idea of the divine-human friendship is logical enough and entirely credible.
The infinite God and the finite man can merge their personalities in the tenderest, most satisfying friendship. In such relationship there is no idea of equality; only of likeness where the heart of man meets the heart of God.
This likeness is possible because God at the first made man in His own image and because He is now remaking men in the image that was lost by sin.
verse
You are my friends if you do what I command.
— John 15:24
thought
That we are created in God's image is mind-blowing. Granted, sin has marred and distorted that image but it has not been destroyed. What immense possibilities are open to us through image restoration ? not least of which is friendship with God.
prayer
Lord, show me something of what it can mean to be in friendship with You!
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
When the rich young ruler learned the cost of discipleship he went away sorrowing.
He could not give up the sunny side of the brae. But thanks be to God, there are some in every age who refuse to go back.
The Acts of the Apostles is the story of men and women who turned their faces into the stiff wind of persecution and loss and followed the Lamb whithersoever He went.
They knew that the world hated Christ without a cause and hated them for His sake; but for the glory that was set before them they continued steadfastly on the way.
Perhaps the whole thing can be reduced to a simple matter of faith or unbelief.
Faith sees afar the triumph of Christ and is willing to endure any hardship to share in it.
Unbelief is not sure of anything except that it hates the wind and loves the sunny side of the brae.
Every man will have to decide for himself whether or not he can afford the terrible luxury of unbelief.
verse
When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
— Matthew 19:22
thought
The rich young ruler sounds like one of the new millionaires of Silicon Valley. Most of us won't have the option of millions. We just choose the relative wealth of this world, living for the few years of our lifetime. It is that or eternal life which can. . .
prayer
Forgive me, Lord, for sometimes complaining about the wind in my face. I have chosen You. Thank You for the wind!
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
What has Christ to offer to us that is sound, genuine and desirable?
He offers forgiveness of sins, inward cleansing, peace with God, eternal life, the gift of the Holy Spirit, victory over temptation, resurrection from the dead, a glorified body, immortality and a dwelling place in the house of the Lord forever.
These are a few benefits that come to us as a result of faith in Christ and total committal to Him. Add to these the expanding wonders and increasing glories that shall be ours through the long, long reaches of eternity, and we get an imperfect idea of what Paul called, "the unsearchable riches of Christ.
To accept the call of Christ changes the returning sinner indeed, but it does not change the world. The wind still blows toward hell and the man who is walking in the opposite direction will have the wind in his face. And we had better take this into account when we ponder on spiritual things.
If the unsearchable riches of Christ are not worth suffering for, then we should know it now and cease to play at religion.
verse
What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ . . .
— Philippians 3:8
thought
If we are not now in some measure experiencing the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ, then indeed we may be tightly clinging to some things fearing their loss.
prayer
Father, help me to clearly distinguish between what is eternal gain and what is ultimate rubbish.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
In our eagerness to make converts I am afraid we have lately been guilty of using the technique of modern salesmanship, which is of course to present only the desirable qualities in a product and ignore the rest.
We go to men and offer them a cozy home on the sunny side of the brae. If they will but accept Christ He will give them peace of mind, solve their problems, prosper their business, protect their families and keep them happy all day long.
They believe us and come, and the first cold wind sends them shivering to some counselor to find out what has gone wrong; and that is the last we hear of many of them.
The teachings of Christ reveal Him to be a realist in the finest meaning of that word. Nowhere in the Gospels do we find anything visionary or overoptimistic. He told His hearers the whole truth and let them make up their minds. He might grieve over the retreating form of an inquirer who could not face up to the truth, but He never ran after him to try to win him with rosy promises.
He would have men follow Him, knowing the cost, or He would let them go their ways.
All this is but to say that Christ is honest. We can trust Him.
He knows that He will never be popular among the sons of Adam and He knows that His followers need not expect to be.
The wind that blows in His face will be felt by all who travel with Him, and we are not intellectually honest when we try to hide that fact from them.
verse
From this time on many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
— John 6:66
thought
Following Christ is costly in many ways. For some it means physical suffering, even death. For others rejection, ostracism, extreme prejudice. The greatest cost of all is to the old nature, ego, self. Yet consider the cost of not following Christ.
prayer
Lord, if I turn from following You, to whom do I go? Eternal life is in knowing You.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
Are You Feeling the Wind? God hath called you to Christs side, wrote the saintly Rutherford, and the wind is now in Christs face in this land; and seeing ye are with Him, ye cannot expect the leeside or the sunny side of the brae.
With that beautiful feeling for words that characterized Samuel Rutherfords most casual utterance he here crystallizes for us one of the great radical facts of the Christian life. The wind is in Christs face, and because we go with Him we too shall have the wind in our face. We should not expect less.
The yearning for the sunny side of the brae is natural enough, and for such sensitive creatures as we are it is, I suppose, quite excusable.
No one enjoys walking into a cold wind. Yet the Church has had to march with the wind in her face through the long centuries.
verse
He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
— Micah 6:8
thought
Our desire is to be accepted, to blend in. Yet to walk with Christ means to stay at His side and inevitably that will mean facing the cold and bitter wind. Are you feeling the wind?
prayer
Lord, I want to walk with You even into the wind!
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
We delude ourselves when we try to turn our just punishments into a cross and rejoice over that for which we should rather repent. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God?(1 Pet. 2:20)
The cross is always in the way of righteousness. We feel the pain of the cross only when we suffer for Christ?s sake by our own willing choice. I think that there is also another kind of suffering, one that does not fall into either of the categories considered above. It comes neither from the rod nor from the cross, not being imposed as a moral corrective nor suffered as a result of our Christian life and testimony.
It comes in the course of nature and arises from the many ills flesh is heir to. It visits all alike in a greater or lesser degree and would appear to have no clear spiritual significance. Its source may be fire, flood, bereavement, injuries, accidents, illness, old age, weariness or the upset conditions of the world generally.
What are we to do about this? Well, some great souls have managed to turn even these neutral afflictions to good.
By prayer and self-abasement they wooed adversity to become their friend and made rough distress a teacher to instruct them in the heavenly arts. May we not emulate them?
verse
But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
— Job 23:10
thought
Pain pushes us into the arms of God. There are times when we cannot discern whether it is our cross or chastisement. We can only cling to Him and we find in our hurting His arms tightly around us.
prayer
You know the way I take, Father, the purpose in my hurting. Show me or, if not, hold me close in Your arms.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
But how can we tell in a given situation whether our pain is from the cross or the rod?
Pain is pain from whatever source it comes.
Jonah in flight from the will of God suffered no worse storm than did Paul in the center of Gods will; the same wild sea threatened the life of both.
And Daniel in the lions den was in trouble as deep as was Jonah in the whales belly.
The nails bit as deep into the hands of Christ dying for the sins of the world as into the hands of the two thieves dying for their own sins.
How then may we distinguish the cross from the rod?
I think the answer is plain.
When tribulation comes we have but to note whether it is imposed or chosen. "Blessed are ye," said our Lord, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you? (Matt. 5:11).
But that is not all.
Four other words He added: they are falsely, for my sake. These words show that the suffering must come voluntarily, that it must be chosen in the larger choice of Christ and righteousness. If the accusation men cry against us is true, no blessedness follows.
verse
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
— Hebrews 12:11
thought
C. S. Lewis wrote of God shouting to us in our pains, using pain as a megaphone to rouse a deaf world. Pain is a loud summons to self-examination. Are we suffering for the cause of Christ or because of personal sin?
prayer
Father, when I am experiencing pain due to my sin, help me to recognize it. When it is for other reasons may I accept it as fromYou.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
As the cross stands in the way of obedience, so chastisement is found in the way of disobedience.
God never chastens a perfectly obedient child.
Consider the fathers of our flesh; they never punished us for obedience, only for disobedience.
When we feel the sting of the rod we may be sure we are temporarily out of the right way.
Conversely, the pain of the cross means that we are in the way.
But the Fathers love is not more or less, wherever we may be. God chastens us not that He may love us but because He loves us.
In a well-ordered house a disobedient child may expect punishment; in the household of God no careless Christian can hope to escape it.
verse
Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.
— Hebrews 12:10
thought
God disciplines us for our good that we may share in His holiness. It is the only way we shall ever share in that holiness. To that end He chastens us in love.
prayer
O thank You, Lord, for Your persistent, consistent discipline. I don't learn easily and I often have to relearn but You are patiently loving in chastening me.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/