Pressing Toward the Goal Ahead
A.W. Tozer emphasizes the importance of focusing on the positive aspects of faith and the future rather than dwelling on past sins.
A.W. Tozer emphasizes the importance of focusing on the future and the positive aspects of spiritual life rather than dwelling on past sins and failures. He compares the Christian journey to a race, where looking back hinders progress, and encourages believers to concentrate on what they are becoming in Christ. Tozer asserts that while it is natural to remember past struggles, it should only be a fleeting glance, as the ultimate goal is to look forward to God's glory. He warns against allowing past experiences to define one's present and urges Christians to use their restored health and strength for meaningful contributions to the world.
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We are not called to fellowship with nonexistence. We are called to things that exist in truth, to positive things, and it is as we become occupied with these that health comes to the soul. Spiritual life cannot feed on negatives. The man who is constantly reciting the evils of his unconverted days is looking in the wrong direction. He is like a man trying to run a race while looking back over his shoulder. What the Christian used to be is altogether the least important thing about him.
What he is yet to be is all that should concern him. He may occasionally, as Paul sometimes did, remember to his own shame the life he once lived; but that should be only a quick glance; it is never to be a fixed gaze. Our long permanent look is on God and the glory that shall be revealed. What we are saved from and what we are saved to bear the same relation to each other as a serious illness and recovered health. The physician should stand between these two opposites to save from one and restore to the other.
Once the great sickness is cured the memory of it should be thrust out onto the margin of the mind to grow fainter and weaker as it retreats farther away; and the fortunate man whose health has been restored should go on to use his new strength to accomplish something useful for mankind. Yet many persons permit their sick bodies to condition their mental stuff so that after the body has gotten well they still retain the old feeling of chronic invalidism they had before. They are recovered, true enough, but not to anything.
We have but to imagine a group of such persons testifying every Sunday about their late illnesses and singing plaintive songs about them and we have a pretty fair picture of many gatherings among Christians today.
Sermon Outline
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I
- The importance of focusing on positive truths
- The dangers of dwelling on past sins
- The analogy of a race and looking forward
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II
- Understanding what we are saved from and saved to
- The role of the physician in spiritual recovery
- The need to forget past illnesses
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III
- The impact of chronic invalidism on spiritual health
- The importance of using restored health for good
- The need for a shift in focus in Christian gatherings
Key Quotes
“Spiritual life cannot feed on negatives.” — A.W. Tozer
“What he is yet to be is all that should concern him.” — A.W. Tozer
“Our long permanent look is on God and the glory that shall be revealed.” — A.W. Tozer
Application Points
- Shift your focus from past failures to future possibilities in Christ.
- Utilize your spiritual health to contribute positively to the community.
- Encourage fellow believers to share testimonies of hope rather than past struggles.