One of my centering reads (other than the Bible, of course), is a tiny little book by A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God. I may have mentioned it before. If you want help centering, in a genuine, direct, Godly way, this is a must-read. Although written in the 40s, it doesn’t read at all like that. This is one of those little books that proves the timelessness of the Word of God and its teachings. This book was written on a train bound from Chicago to Texas. In one long, bumpy, loud, overnight train ride, the draft was completed. In his pastoral journey, Tozer was assigned to the Alliance Church in Nutter Fort, West Virginia in 1919, before serving 31 years at the Southside Alliance Church in Chicago and becoming a regular on the Moody Bible Institute’s radio station segment Talks from a Pastor’s Study.
I opened this little book the other day to reground (try). If you’re like me (I hope I’m not alone), this time of year, this season, sometimes leaves me chasing my tail with all the “stuff” that “needs” to be done. It is exciting with preparations for Christmas. The parties to attend, the gifts to purchase, the kids’ concerts, the Church play, the tree lightings, the parades, the family dinners to plan, the decorating, the baking, the wrapping (that starts with beautifully wrapped packages and ends with a ‘just stuff it in a bag’), and the list goes on and on. If you are the Celebration Director in your family you may find yourself helplessly swirling around until you just flop somewhere.
As I was reading the book, I was reminded:
God formed us for Himself. The Shorter Catechism…asks the ancient questions what and why and answers them in one short sentence hardly matched in any uninspired work,
“Question: What is the chief end of man?
Answer: Man’s chief end is to glorify God forever.”
A.W. Tozer
Our Father, our Creator, our Most High God, made us for Himself! Roll that around in your mind for a minute. The God of the Universe, the One who created from scratch, from the dust of the earth, our breath, our bodies, our minds, our spirits, formed us for Himself. WoW! That’s a little mind boggling to me – not necessarily the fact that He created me and you, although that’s super WoW too, but the fact that He chose to create me, the fact that he wanted me, even me, doesn’t just boggle my mind, it blows it away.
Tozer goes on to say:
God formed us for his pleasure, and so formed us that we, as well as He, can, in divine communion, enjoy the sweet mysterious mingling of kindred personalities. He meant us to see Him and live with Him and draw our life from His smile.
This is the time of year for “sweet mysterious mingling,” isn’t it? Spend a second or two on that – “sweet mysterious mingling of kindred personalities.” It doesn’t get any sweeter than a baby, more mysterious than the events surrounding that Baby’s birth in a manger and truths yet unrevealed, more mingling than that Baby living in our hearts, for all eternity, more kindred than God in us, revealed in us, His name is called Immanuel.
We were created for divine communion and sweet mysterious mingling of kindred personalities. You know, like, I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God…communion with kin, united with family with God as our Father. He wants to be together with us, He wants to live with us, He wants to live in us. He came as a baby in the manger so that we can see Him, so that we can know Him, so that we can be with Him forever.
Just thinking about that should make us want to fall to our knees and bring our worship, bring our glory, to God. Thinking about how God sent His Son, Jesus, to save us for all eternity, should cause us to work out the “chief end of man,” which is the sole purpose for our very next breath. Our sole purpose for being on this planet is to enter into the presence of God. Unlike that Baby in the manger, we were born with a void, a hole, a space, a gap, a yearning, an emptiness so deep in our hearts that only the presence of God can fill it. Only His sweet mysterious mingling can seep in around the cracks and crevices and bind together the shattered brokenness of our hearts into communion with Him.
During this Season, let each of us be sure to work out the chief end of man in our own lives. In all the busyness, let’s be sure to bring glory to the One whose season we celebrate.
Come to Bethlehem and see him whose birth the angels sing; come, adore on bended knee Christ the Lord, the newborn King. Gloria in excelsis Deo, Gloria in excelsis Deo. Glory in the Highest to God!