Wants or Wishes
A.W. Tozer emphasizes the importance of wholehearted desire in obtaining spiritual treasures, warning against settling for less than the best in one's Christian life.
A.W. Tozer emphasizes the distinction between wants and wishes in the Christian life, arguing that believers often settle for a mediocre spiritual existence instead of pursuing the fullness of joy and victory available through Christ. He asserts that individuals will only experience as much of God as they truly desire, and that many Christians are content with a lukewarm faith, missing out on the richness of spiritual treasures offered by God. Tozer encourages a wholehearted pursuit of righteousness, highlighting that true hunger for God leads to fulfillment, while mere wishing without action results in spiritual stagnation.
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The third class of blessing consists of spiritual treasures which are ours by blood atonement but which will not come to us unless we make a determined effort to possess them. To make things clearer let me set forth four propositions touching this heritage of joy which God has set before us; 3. You will have as little as you are satisfied with. God giveth to all men liberally, but it would be absurd to think that God's liberality will make a man more godly than he wants to be.
The man, for instance, who is satisfied to live a defeated life will never be forced to take victory. The man who is content to follow Christ afar off will never know the radiant wonder of His nearness. The man who is willing to settle for a joyless, barren life will never experience the joy of the Holy Spirit or the deep satisfaction of fruitful living. It is disheartening to those who care, and surely a great grief to the Spirit, to see how many Christians are content to settle for less than the best.
Personally I have for years carried a burden of sorrow as I have moved among evangelical Christians who somewhere in their past have managed to strike a base compromise with their heart's holier longings and have settled down to a lukewarm, mediocre kind of Christianity utterly unworthy of themselves and of the Lord they claim to serve. And such are found everywhere. 4. You now have as much as you really want. Every man is as close to God as he wants to be; he is as holy and as full of the Spirit as he wills to be.
Our Lord said, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled" (Matt. 5:6). If there were but one man anywhere on earth who hungered and was not filled the word of Christ would fall to the ground. Yet we must distinguish wanting from wishing. By "want" I mean wholehearted desire. Certainly there are many who wish they were holy or victorious or joyful but are not willing to meet God's conditions to obtain. That God has placed before His redeemed children a vast world of spiritual treasures and that they refuse or neglect to claim it may easily turn out to be the second greatest tragedy in the history of the moral creation, the first and greatest being the fall of man.
Sermon Outline
- The Three Classes of Blessing
- Propositions Touching the Heritage of Joy
- The Importance of Wholehearted Desire
- Distinguishing Between Wanting and Wishing
- Meeting God's Conditions to Obtain Spiritual Treasures
- Requires Determined Effort to Possess
Key Quotes
“You will have as little as you are satisfied with.” — A.W. Tozer
“The man who is satisfied to live a defeated life will never be forced to take victory.” — A.W. Tozer
“It is disheartening to those who care, and surely a great grief to the Spirit, to see how many Christians are content to settle for less than the best.” — A.W. Tozer
Application Points
- Recognize the importance of wholehearted desire in obtaining spiritual treasures.
- Be aware of the difference between wanting and wishing, and strive for a wholehearted desire for God's best.
- Do not settle for less than the best in your Christian life, but instead, pursue a life of victory and joy in Christ.