Chasing Truth
To think well and usefully, one must possess certain indispensable qualifications, including honesty, courage, and a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures.
A.W. Tozer emphasizes the essential qualities required for effective thinking, which include honesty, courage, and a willingness to obey truth. He warns that the timid may avoid self-discovery, while sincere seekers must approach truth with a readiness to act upon it. Tozer also highlights the importance of knowledge, cautioning against narrow-mindedness and the dangers of learning without thoughtful reflection. He asserts that true wisdom is moral and cannot coexist with evil, and that a comprehensive understanding of Scripture and the Christian faith is crucial for creative thought. Ultimately, Tozer calls for a deeper engagement with both knowledge and moral integrity in the pursuit of truth.
Text
To think well and usefully a man must be endowed with certain indispensable qualifications. He must, for one thing, be completely honest and transparently sincere. Another qualification is courage. The timid man dare not think lest he discover himself, an experience to him as shocking as the discovery that he has cancer. The sincere thinker comes to his task with the abandonment of a Saul of Tarsus, crying, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Thinking carries a moral imperative.
The searcher for truth must be ready to obey truth without reservation or it will elude him. Let him refuse to follow the light and he dooms himself to darkness. The coward may be shrewd or clever but he can never be a wise thinker, for wisdom is at bottom a moral thing and will have no truck with evil. Again, the effective religious thinker must possess some degree of knowledge. A Chinese saying has it, Learning without thought is a snare; thought without learning is a danger.
I have met Christians with sharp minds but limited outlook who saw one truth and, being unable to relate it to other truths, became narrow extremists, devoutly cultivating their tiny plot, naively believing that their little fence enclosed the whole earth. An acquaintance with or at least a perception of the significance of what Kant called the starry heavens above and the moral law within is necessary to right thinking. Add to this a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures, a good historic sense and some intimate contact with the Christian religion as it is practiced currently and you have the raw material for creative thought. Still this is not enough to make a thinker.
Sermon Outline
- Indispensable Qualifications for Thinking
- The Moral Imperative of Thinking
- Knowledge and Wisdom
- Honesty and Sincerity
- Courage
- Obedience to Truth
- Consequences of Refusing Truth
- The Importance of Learning
- The Danger of Limited Knowledge
Key Quotes
“The timid man dare not think lest he discover himself, an experience to him as shocking as the discovery that he has cancer.” — A.W. Tozer
“Learning without thought is a snare; thought without learning is a danger.” — A.W. Tozer
“Wisdom is at bottom a moral thing and will have no truck with evil.” — A.W. Tozer
Application Points
- A thinker must be willing to obey truth without reservation in order to discover it.
- A thorough knowledge of the Scriptures and a good historic sense are necessary for creative thought.
- Courage is necessary for thinking because it allows the thinker to face the truth, even if it is uncomfortable or challenging.