In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” (Isaiah 6:1-3)
“The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. (Matthew 10:24)
“The history of mankind will probably show
that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history
will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea
of God.” (A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy, p 1.)
I’ve
started reading The Knowledge of the Holy again. I put today’s date in
the back of the book because I don’t remember when I read it last. Next time, I’ll
at least know when I began it. His statement above is provocative. I can well
imagine atheists and agnostics (by whatever name) objecting to it. Am I saying
they are not moral, good people just because they don’t believe in a god? No. Mr.
Tozer and I are referring to people, not to individual persons.
Furthermore, as I noted
recently, just because someone does not call that which orders the universe a god
does not mean that the thing which orders the universe does not perform the
function of a god in their life. A chair is not a ladder. We may use it for
one, but it will always be inferior to the ladder even if it adequately
accomplishes the goal.
The thing about today’s
passages and the quote from Mr. Tozer is that one of the good decisions that I
should make is to seek a higher idea or a higher vision of God. If I see it,
and you see it, and others seek it, then perhaps we can be part of raising the
people up. At the very least, we won’t be helping to lower humanity down.
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