Clay in the Hands

I am beginning to study for a sermon series that is on the schedule for after Easter.  We will be looking at the attributes of God.  One of the books I am reading in preparation for that series is by A.W. Tozer entitled, The Knowledge of the Holy.

In the very first chapter of the book, on the first page, Tozer makes a statement that has had me thinking.  He says, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

I am still wrestling with that statement, but I think there is some profound truth to be mined here.  He goes on to say, “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.”

Our concept of God shapes us.  Whether we realize the significance or not, there is nothing more important to any human being than God and what characterizes the relationship between the two.

Each of us will one day reach our last day – for you or me, that day may be this day.  And in that final moment – that final breath – there will be absolutely nothing that will matter more than our belief about (and in) God.  These are not just words written to make you think, these words come from personal experience of looking into the eyes of people drawing their last breath.  I have knelt beside many, many beds as people reached the threshold between this existence and the next and looked into their eyes and listened to their words.

I am not in any way trying to betray that moment for anyone, I am simply stating that this truth is real – I have seen it – I have felt it – I have held it.  Nothing, absolutely nothing, is more important in that moment than our thoughts about God and the security of a relationship with the creator.

But here is the beautiful reality – thoughts about God and a relationship with Jesus are just as important today as they will be on your final day.  The difference?

A sense of urgency.

But here is what we must all take to heart.  God wants so much more for us than we understand.  If we wait to consider the importance of a relationship with God until the end, we miss out on a fulfilled life between now and that last day.

Why would anyone do that?

Think about it.