| Martin Luther. Charles Finney. Susanna Wesley. Jonathan Edwards. Corrie ten Boom. Great saints these are. We can look to wonderful Christians of the past for inspiration, but who are the great believers of today? For that matter, what makes them great?
I like A. W. Tozer’s criteria. He says, “The great in the kingdom have been those who…love God more than others did.” He goes on to say, “The one vital quality which these people have in common is spiritual receptivity. Something in them is open to heaven, something which urges them Godward. They have a spiritual awareness and they go on to cultivate it until it becomes the biggest thing in their lives.”
According to Tozer, then, you don’t have to be a famous evangelist, a mother of sixteen children, a Bible teacher, or someone who has faced Nazi gas ovens to be great. (Although if you remain open to heaven and cultivate that spiritual awareness, God is going to place you in some powerful sphere of influence or impact.) If your ambition is to have no ambition except to be pleasing to God, you are great in his kingdom. The average person senses God’s nudgings but does nothing about them. Not so you, if you’re spiritually great. You are the one who develops the lifelong habit of being spiritually responsive. When you read Psalm 27, you are the one whose heart says to God, “Your face, LORD, I will seek.”
The Lord is looking right now for people who will love him in more than the average way. He’s looking for people whose love is more than mediocre. Listen…is the Spirit nudging you? If you sense he is leading you to a deeper level of trust and obedience, do something about it. If you feel the inward longing, take action. Be obedient to the heavenly vision. For then you will be great in his kingdom.
I want to know you, Lord, in such a deep way that I will be overwhelmed by you. Enable me to earnestly seek your face. |
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