If we should suddenly be revealed those around us on the outside has Almighty God sees us within our souls, we would become the most embarrassed people in the world. If that would happen we would be revealed as people barely able to stand, people in rags, some too dirty to be decent, some with great open sores. Some would be revealed in such condition that they would be turned out of skid row. Do we think that we are actually keeping her spiritual poverty a secret, that God doesn't know us better than we know ourselves? But we will not tell him, and we disguise our poverty of spirit and hide our inward state in order to preserve our reputation. We also want to keep some authority for ourselves. We cannot agree that the final key to our lives should be turned over to Jesus Christ. Brethren, we want to have dual controls - let the lord run it but keep a hand on the controls just in case the lord should fail!
We are willing to join heartily in singing , "to God be the glory," but we are strangely ingenious in figuring out ways and means by which we keep some of the glory for ourselves. In this matter of perpetually seeking our own interests, we can only say that people who want to live for God often arrange to do very subtly what the worldly souls do crudely and openly.
A.W. Tozer
The radical cross
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