Aiden Wilson Tozer was an American evangelical pastor, speaker, writer, and editor. After coming to Christ at the age of seventeen, Tozer found his way into the Christian & Missionary Alliance denomination where he served for over forty years. In 1950, he was appointed by the denomination's General Council to be the editor of 'The Alliance Witness'.
Born into poverty in western Pennsylvania in 1897, Tozer died in May 1963 a self-educated man who had taught himself what he missed in high school and college due to his home situation. Though he wrote many books, two of them, 'The Pursuit of God' and 'The Knowledge of the Holy' are widely considered to be classics.

Chapter 1 : Striving Toward God’s Presence

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
HEBREWS 1:1-3

In the deep recesses of man’s soul lies an overwhelming yearning toward the Creator. This is a common thread through all humanity, created in the image of God. Unless and until that desire is fully met, the human soul remains restless, constantly striving for that which is ultimately unattainable.

To any discerning Christian, it is easy to see that men and women are in an awful spiritual and moral mess today. A person must know where he is before he can comprehend where he needs to be. The solution, however, is not within the scope of human endeavor. The highest ideal or accomplishment of man is to break from the spiritual bondage and enter into the presence of God, knowing that you have entered welcomed territory.

Within every human breast rages this desire, driving him forward. Many a person confuses the object of that desire and spends his or her entire life striving for the unobtainable. Very simply put, the great passion in the heart of every human being, who are created in the image of God, is to experience the awesome majesty of God’s presence. The highest accomplishment of humanity is entering the overwhelming presence of God. Nothing else can satiate this burning thirst.

The average person, unable to understand this passion for intimacy with God, fills his life with things, hoping somehow to satisfy his inward longing. He chases that which is exterior, hoping to satisfy that inner thirst, but to no avail.

St. Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo, captured the essence of this desire in his Confessions: “Thou hast created us for Thyself and we are restless until we rest fully in Thee.” This explains, to a great degree, the spirit of restlessness pervading every generation and every culture—always striving but never coming to the knowledge of the truth of God’s presence.

John the Revelator voices something quite similar: “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created” (Rev. 4:11). It is God’s great pleasure for us to fully rest in His presence, moment by moment. God created man expressly for the use of His pleasure and fellowship. Nothing in or of this world measures up to the simple pleasure of experiencing the presence of God.

The spirit of restlessness breaking across the sea of humanity testifies to this truth. Our whole purpose as created beings is to utilize our time delighting in the manifest presence of our Creator. This presence is both intangible and indescribable. Some try explaining it, but only those with a personal, intimate knowledge of God’s presence can truly understand. Some things rise above explanation and human understanding, and this is one. Many Christians are filled with good information, but only a few mercy drops fall into their languid soul to satisfy the thirst for God’s presence. Too many have never burst into the dazzling sunlight of God’s conscious, manifest presence. Or if they perchance have, it is a rare experience and not a continuous delight.

Man’s Striving for Altitude

Intimacy with the Creator separates man from all other of God’s creation. The great passion buried in the breast of every human being created in the image of God is to experience this awesome majesty of His presence. However, several things stand in the way of man’s striving toward the presence of God in personal, intimate familiarity.

The experience of too many people trying to probe the presence of God ends in complete and utter frustration. Longing to be in His presence and actually coming into His presence are two entirely different things. As created beings, man longs for the presence of the Creator, but in himself cannot find it.

Consider the eagle, born to fly. A natural yearning within the breast of the young eagle leads it to mount up on wings and ascend into the sky with a thousand feet of clean air beneath its wings. The eagle may, on occasion, walk on the ground or perch in a tree, but everything about him is designed to fly in the air. If our eagle had its wings clipped, preventing him from flying, he still would have the burning desire to mount up on wings and ascend into the sky. His ability, however, would be so impaired that he could never lift off the ground. He could not be true to his nature.

Such is the plight of humanity. We are born to ascend into the very environment of God’s presence where we belong; but something has clipped our wings, disabling us from responding to the cry from within. “Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me” (Ps. 42:7). Because man is shut out of the presence of God, he suffers many maladies.

Hindrances to God’s Presence

The greatest hindrance, of course, is the fact that God is unapproachable. Sin has created an unmanageable debt for all humanity. The good news, however, is that Christ has paid the debt and bridged that gap to God for all. But there are still at least three challenges that stand in man’s way as he strives after God’s presence.

The Moral Bankruptcy of the Human Soul

The first obstruction is the moral bankruptcy of the human soul. Man’s inevitable striking against the kingdom of God and the moral order of the universe puts him in debt to that moral order and becomes a debt to the great God who created the heavens and earth. This debt must be paid. What the moral conscience of all men requires and cries out for is a fund of merit sufficient to pay that debt. That’s why every religion tries to establish this fund of merit but without success.

Religion does it through what is referred to as “good works,” resulting in emptiness and a deep-seated sense of guilt that nothing can wash away. But even if such a fund of merit could be achieved, it would not be enough. Pardon must be secured.

What if some lowlife criminal desired to have an audience with the queen of England? Someone with a long-time record of criminal activity desired to stand before the gracious queen and be admitted into her presence.

Such a matter could be arranged, because many have so desired and been welcomed there. But something would have to be done before that criminal could be admitted into the presence of the queen. Nobody could arbitrarily admit a criminal into the queen’s presence—could admit someone who by his previous acts jeopardizes the safety of her gracious majesty and all that she symbolizes.

Through the years, many have gone through the legal protocol to prepare them for an audience with the queen. The primary ingredient for entering the queen’s presence would rest on a legal pardon. Somebody would have to straighten out all the legal issues necessary to grant a full pardon. The debt would have to be paid. Pardon is a legal act beyond the capabilities of the person being pardoned; it is an outside force putting to rest the criminal’s past. That would be the first step.

No criminal could capriciously come into the presence of the queen simply because he desired to do so. It would have to be someone who was yielding allegiance; but that would not be enough either. Even though the government could pardon this man—could strike from the record all criminal counts against him so that there was nothing on the books—and restore his citizenship as though he were a freeborn citizen once more, even that would not go far enough.

Now take this example of a criminal standing in the presence of the queen of England and think about our desire to enter the presence of holy God. The human heart knows that it cannot enter into the presence of God, because it has rebelled against God. There must be something done to make it possible for that rebellion to end and be forgiven. The act of rebellion must be pardoned completely, and the rebel restored to full citizenship in the kingdom of God, to be made a child of the Father.

All of that was done in Christ. But that is still not enough.

There is another hindrance.

The Foul Scent of Sin Upon Us

Let’s return to the example of a criminal wanting an audience with the queen. Although the man has been fully pardoned of his crimes, and his past has been expunged, that is not enough. Not only must the past be dealt with, but also the present must be attended to. He could not just walk off Skid Row, unshaven and dirty, into the presence of the queen. He would also have to be washed and made fit to stand in the queen’s presence. This pardoned man is dirty, smelly and unshaven. Before going into the presence of the queen, he would have to be groomed and cleansed and properly dressed.

If he is to stand in the queen’s presence, his present condition and attire must be in complete conformity to her wishes and demands. She sets the standard, and all who come into her presence must conform to it. She never conforms to their standard.

In like fashion, man cannot enter the presence of God with the foul scent of sin upon him. Although the past has been dealt with, the present condition also must be addressed. The very presence of sinful thoughts, for example, inhibits our approach into the presence of God. The filth clinging to our robe of self-righteousness repulses the pure, undefiled presence of God. Not only do we need a change of heart, but we also need a change of garment. Therefore, we must exchange our filthy garment for the pure robe of righteousness. To come into the presence of God, we must conform in every way to His standard.

In light of this standard, some provision must be made available. Some fountain must be opened in the House of David for sin and uncleanness so that we may not only be forgiven but also cleansed. The blood of Jesus Christ accomplished this stupendous act! This is what Christianity teaches. This is the witness the Church gives to the world. Man’s moral conscience, crying for pardon and cleansing before the presence of the great God, has now found it by an event, an act of the eternal Son, who is the image of the invisible God and the firstborn of every creature, upholding all things by the Word of His power (see Col. 1:15-17). He turned aside to do this awful act—this awesome, amazing, stupendous act—by Himself. He single-handedly purged our sins. He alone could do it, so He did it alone.

In other things, Jesus Christ willingly accepted help. When He was to be born into the world, He accepted the help of the Virgin Mary, who gave her pure body to God and brought Him into the world—a man born a babe in Bethlehem’s manger. He wept in her arms, nursed at her breast, was taken care of and fed and loved. He accepted the help of His mother. He willingly accepted help from Joseph, His supposed father, a simple carpenter who worked from sunup to sundown to provide clothing and shelter for his wife and the boy, Jesus.

But in this one area—the purging of man’s sin—the Son operated alone and single-handedly fulfilled all the requirements for man’s redemption. Therefore, the foul scent of sin upon man can be washed and cleansed by the blood Jesus Christ shed on the cross. This standard allows us to come boldly into the presence of God.

The Lost Concept of Majesty

Even those in Christendom have been challenged in their striving after God. Not only our garments, but also our attitudes and intentions need divine purification. We must come into His presence in a way that is worthy of Him.

The present generation of Christians has suffered what I call the lost concept of majesty. This has come about by a slow decline, manifesting itself in our depreciation of ourselves. Those who hold a low value of man have a corresponding low value of God. After all, God created man in His own image. When we cease to understand the majestic nature of man, we cease to appreciate the majesty of God. How did we get to this place?

At one time, many believed the earth was the center of the universe and all the heavenly bodies revolved around it. It was a simple earth and easy to explain, because we go by our sight, and by our sight the earth is still, and everything is traveling around it. Most people believed this until the time of Copernicus and Galileo, who came along in the sixteenth century and taught that the earth is not fixed at all, but in motion around an orbit.

For the most part, people complied with those findings and said, “Then, we’re all wrong about anything being fixed. We don’t believe in it anymore.” So they stopped believing there was anything fixed in the heavens, or at least that the earth was fixed.

The common thought at the time was, “We’re riding around on earth’s diurnal course. If the earth is not the center of the world, man is the center of God’s creation. Surely not only the center, but the top of God’s creation.” The accepted belief at the time was that man is the top of the world; God made him, and made him in His image.

In time, Charles Darwin came along and taught that man is not the center, the head, the top and the final, finished product of the creation. Furthermore, the earth and all that is in it and on it is not a creation at all; it just happens to be here. It is simply a moving purpose. Man is simply partway up from where he used to be and where he is going to be. Man once moved about in colloidal ooze and crept and sloshed about in the depths of the sea. Then the sun struck him and he took on an eye and became a mudpuppy. He moved some more, and after the passing of a few more million years, he became a bird. Then after that, he became a monkey, and we are on our way, and here we are now. However, we are not where we are going and we are not where we have been. We are not the center of anything. We are simply taking off. We are in motion.

About the turn of the twentieth century, or a little before, the world suddenly drew a deep breath and said, “Can it possibly be that we are struggling upward and what used to be called sin is not sin at all? It is something else. It is simply the residual twitching of the old mudpuppy. The lingering remnants of that which used to be in the man, and little by little, we are purging him out. Look at that baboon, and look at that college professor. What an amazing difference! Look at him sit there with a dreamy look on his face while he listens to a Beethoven symphony. See how far he’s come?”

Yes, he certainly has come a long way. See him two nights later when his wife bawls him out and he turns on her, shoots her, stabs her or walks out on her. He is a human being, too, and not all of his degrees have changed him on any level.

In spite of all this, there were people saying, “Somewhere there’s something fixed. If it is not the earth, it is the sun.” About this time, Albert Einstein came along and said, “That is not the way it is at all. Nothing is fixed anywhere, not even the sun. The sun is simply another star, and around it has gathered the solar system, but that is not fixed either. It is moving around another star farther out, and then that whole thing is moving around another big one still farther out.”

By this time, your head begins to ache, and you say, “Please, leave me alone. I can’t take this.” All of these postulations have served to take away every idea concerning the majesty of man. You cannot believe any of these things and then look at a man with any respect.

Look at the pictures of our founders and forbears—very dignified old gentlemen they are, but you cannot look on them with respect if you’ve lost the sense of the majesty of man because God created him. You would see under their sideburns the marks of the mudpuppy gills. And you would realize they are not dignified men made in the image of God at all but had crept up that far, out of the gutter.

This is what this world system wants us to believe, taking away all sense of majesty. You could not possibly respect that which crawled up from below.

A sense of majesty has been lost, and along with this a sense of dignity has disappeared among mankind. This has so permeated our society that it is perhaps beyond reclaiming.

Even Christians suffer with a demoralized sense of majesty. It does not matter whether it is true or not as long as it is funny. We do not care whether it is truth or not if it is said in a cute way that entertains us.

But I believe the Majesty is still in the heavens. This Majesty still sits on His throne before which angels, archangels, seraphim and cherubim continue to cry, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabbaoth.” When Jesus, who was God by Himself, alone purged our sins, He went back and sat down where He had been through the long, long ages—at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens. After He sat down on that right hand, the eternal Son turned to man.

Reclaiming our Sense of the Majesty on High

Christian leadership today has done so much to hinder the majestic elements of Christianity. Everything must have some kind of a logical, rational explanation. I readily admit that it verges on the impossible to describe in any degree of adequacy the conscious, manifest presence of God. Any lame attempt on my part will crumble in frustrated disappointment. The best I possibly can hope is to put forth my personal experience backed up by scriptural exhortation. My part is only to whet the appetite and then trust the Holy Spirit to take it from there.

Many people like their religion in a nice neat formula—something they can do without much effort or thought. These days everybody has some shortcut into the blessings of God’s presence: “Five easy steps to happiness” or “Ten easy steps to get everything you want from God.” However, there is no nice neat formula for this. Rather, we need to whet the spiritual appetite for that which it truly craves: the presence of God. I know well that if you can explain it, it certainly is not the majestic presence of God.

Most people, unfortunately, would pursue these pages with a sense of curiosity and soon grow bored and turn aside for the titillation of some new thing. Becoming fascinated with some exterior trinket, they soon lose interest in pursuing the presence of God. For those, someone always comes along boasting of some new religious gadget to play with. The poor, undernourished, immature Christian goes from one religious gadget to another, ending up with an emptiness inside that they cannot comprehend.

This book is a small attempt to fan the flame of holy desire toward God. I hope you will catch the passion and press forward to delight in the conscious, manifest presence of God. Thomas à Kempis understood this and wrote, “If you are to live an interior life you must learn to enjoy His intimacy, unhampered by any interruption from the world outside.” He expands this thought in his book The Imitation of Christ: “For a man to make real spiritual progress, he must deny himself; a man who has made this renunciation enjoys great freedom and security.”

Unfortunately, the world is too much with us, and it has successfully become entrenched upon our inner soul, making it unable to court His presence. The good news is that the heart of man truly hungers for God’s presence and that all of the great barriers prohibiting that striving after God have been overcome in Jesus Christ.

God is Present Everywhere
by Oliver Holden (1765–1844)

They who seek the throne of grace
Find that throne in every place;
If we live a life of prayer,
God is present everywhere.

In our sickness and our health,
In our want, or in our wealth,
If we look to God in prayer,
God is present everywhere.

When our earthly comforts fail,
When the woes of life prevail,
’Tis the time for earnest prayer;
God is present everywhere.

Then, my soul, in every strait,
To thy Father come, and wait;
He will answer every prayer:
God is present everywhere.

Chapter 2 : Hindrances on the Pathway to God’s Presence

Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?
HEBREWS 2:1-4

We have already established that deep within the soul of humanity is a latent desire to come into God’s presence. But that desire, put there by God, is not enough to overcome the hindrances that block the pathway. Although the hindrances are many, the main obstruction into God’s presence is the unredeemed nature of man.

To worship God from the depths of the human soul is to discover worship in its purest form, unaffected by the world around; and it is deeper than any mere human emotion. For the unbeliever, worshiping God is impossible. The sin nature is repelled by the purity of God’s nature, and seeks other consolations. These two natures are incompatible, which is the practical outcome of alienation from God.

Even the believer experiences obstacles that challenge his pursuit of God. The greatest challenge facing every Christian is to overcome these hindrances on the path to God’s presence. The enemy of man’s soul, however, is determined to make the pathway as virtually impossible to travel as he can. For the most part, he has done a great job of discouraging pilgrims in their quest for God’s presence.

John, the Beloved, understood this and encourages us with these words: “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Certainly, the opposition is there and it is real, but it is not of such a nature as to keep us from God’s presence. We can overcome all the wiles of the enemy and anything he puts in our way.

The most important thing we can devote ourselves to is giving attention to the things of God to save our soul. This must be an active, persistent and deliberate intent on our part, regardless of the difficulties that lie in our path.

Too many people have made coming into God’s presence not only complicated but also all but unattainable, discouraging many from trying. It is not a journey for the indolent or for those addicted to entertainment and the coarse pleasures of the flesh.

The fact that there are hindrances only emphasizes the value of coming into God’s presence. If experiencing His presence were without obstruction, it would be without enticement as well. Someone has well said that whatever is without cost does not have value. When we think of coming into the presence of God, what could be more valuable than that? Certainly, the importance of coming into God’s presence is worth overcoming every obstacle along the way.

Wouldn’t you think that something so attractive would be at the forefront of every inquiring human being’s desire? There are stumbling blocks along the way, however, that are of such a nature as to keep out all but those who have an impassioned desire for the presence of God—a desire stronger than the draw of anything else in life.

Penetrating the holy presence of God is the reward of fighting the good fight and overcoming all obstructions in the way. This all-consuming desire for God’s presence goes a long way in tackling the major hindrances a seeker might find. When the goal is in clear view, the obstacles become trivial. Let’s take a look at the main obstacles that can keep us from pursuing God and see how we can move around them.

Manmade Errors

Perhaps the greatest obstacle preventing us from coming into God’s presence would be the errors propagated down the years. People have not come right out and said them in so many words, but they think them. And what we think, so are we.

Error: All Religions Lead to God

One manmade error is thinking that there are any number of religions that are good in varying degrees. Therefore, why should we give the more earnest heed to the message of Christianity? Well, God has spoken through His Son and said, “Hear ye Him.” And Moses said, “This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear” (Acts 7:37). Jesus Christ is not another teacher; He is the final teacher and the last Word of God to men. What He has said closes all other arguments.

Error: Man has no Spiritual Responsibility

Another manmade error is the belief that there is nothing to be disturbed about because Christ carries the supreme authority of God. Therefore, everything is taken care of and we don’t need to be bothered.

Christ does carry the supreme authority of God; but to ignore that authority is a grave offense. Some will say, “God will take the initiative; I do not need to do anything. I believe that God will always be the aggressor.” By the way, I believe that, too; but remember, God has already taken the initiative when He sent His holy Son, Jesus Christ, into the world, and when He sent the Holy Spirit down to take the things of Christ and show them unto us. So God has already taken the initiative. If God cannot disturb us, He cannot move us. If He cannot move us, He cannot save us. If He cannot get us concerned about the things of God, He cannot do anything at all for us.

Error: The Message Needs to be Palatable

John and Charles Wesley were men with a deep concern for the seriousness of spiritual matters. We sing the Wesley hymns about being concerned and moved, but we do not half mean them. We ought to mean them, because we ought to give them the more earnest heed, which means careful attention. We ought to read. We ought to listen. We ought to search. We ought to examine and reexamine. And it ought to be done in earnest. We ought to put away levity, flippancy and fun.

The curse of everything today is that it has to be funny. If it is not funny, it is not popular. But there is nothing funny in God seeing His race wander away in the night. There was nothing funny about His sending His holy Son to be born of the virgin. There was nothing funny about His persecution and crucifixion. There was nothing funny about the coming of the Holy Ghost; nothing funny about the judgment and the resurrection of the wicked dead. Levity, flippancy or fun has no place when we consider the things of God. We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard.

The great labor of the Church has always been to get people to give serious attention to spiritual matters. A great many pastors and preachers do not worry about this at all, because they do not expect anything and, therefore, they do not get it. But a man of God, with the burden of the Holy Spirit on him, will want to stir the people to serious attention. Until serious attention has been given to the claims of Christ, it is for us as if the Bible had never been written.

Medicine sitting on the shelf and never taken has never cured anybody. Food left in the refrigerator and never eaten has never nourished anybody. Heat not turned on has never warmed anybody. And the Bible itself, though it is nourishment, though it is light, though it is warmth, though it is medicine to the soul, yet it never helps anybody where there is not serious attention given to it. And when we do not give serious attention, it is as if Christ had not come into the world and died for mankind. He might as well have not come and died as for us to neglect all that is meant by His coming and dying.

The Curse of our Contemporary Culture

Every Christian faces some hindrance in seeking the presence of God. Contemporary Christianity is so taken up by the world that pressing on to the deep things of God becomes rather difficult. Our contemporary times stand in the way of anybody taking his or her spiritual life seriously. So many things are thrown at us; it takes a very resilient soul to resist the onslaught.

Perhaps the most dangerous situation confronting Christians today is what I call cauterizing the conscience. That is, making a person insensitive or callous to the world around him. In practical terms, he experiences a deadening of feelings toward morals. Quite simply, this moral insensibility is a lack of feeling. You cannot feel the whole moral question. The strange paradox is that a person may be troubled by his inability to feel, yet he cannot feel. Even among those who consider themselves Christians, there is very little outrage at the immorality of our times.

The source of this dangerous condition is the semi anesthetization caused by the act of sinning. When a person sins, he anesthetizes his conscience, to a certain extent. I call this the cauterizing of the conscience. If you cauterize a thing, it will hurt at first, but after it heals over, you have no feeling there. Where the cauterization took place, there will develop a hard shell, a thick skin. Sin does that. It cauterizes the conscience, and soon it does not bother us that we are sinning. This is the work of the blinding agent of the unholy one we call the devil. I do believe in the devil and that he blinds the minds of those who believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ might shine onto them (see 2 Cor. 4:4).

Then there is spiritual lethargy, an unnatural inward drowsiness when faced with the claims of God. Yet, we hear a speech on the dangers of our times and we immediately want to know how we can get to a fallout shelter. We hear a program on cancer, and we examine ourselves and wonder if that last pain was a cancer. We are always concerned about superficial things but rarely concerned about spiritual things.

Thomas à Kempis wisely observed, “We give all our attention to things that do us little good, or none at all; things that are vitally necessary we don’t bother about them, just give them the go-by. Yes, all that goes to make man drives him to meddle with outward things, and if he doesn’t soon recover his senses, is only too glad to wallow in material interests and pleasures.”

Moral insensitivity and spiritual lethargy are two great curses because they keep us from taking earnest heed to our spiritual health. Unless we are serious about our approach to God, we will be hindered every step of the way. These two things can only be corrected by a sound conversion to Jesus Christ.

Giving God Leftovers

Then there is the preoccupation with making a living. Jesus called it the “cares of this life” (see Matt. 13:22). If everyone would put as much earnest time and give as much serious attention to seeking God as they put into making a living, they would become a much finer Christian, and soon people would wonder what happened. If women would give as much earnest heed to the claims of Christ and to the needs of their own soul as they give to their house, their cooking and their family, at the end of the week they would have made such spiritual advances that they would be ashamed of the way they had been living before.

The simple fact is that God gets the leftovers, never the main meal. God never gets anything new. He gets the hand-me- downs. We give to God that which we do not need instead of giving to Him that which we need, and thus earning a crown for ourselves. If we were as concerned with our spiritual condition as we are with our homes and our businesses and our income, we would go forward spiritually at a great rate. The beautiful thing about it is that we would not neglect our homes to do it, and we would not neglect our businesses to do it. You do not have to choose between making a living and going forward with God. You can do both. There is time to do both. You do not have to choose between keeping your house decent and cooking your meals for your husband, and going on with God. You can do both.

An excellent example was a woman by the name of Susannah Wesley, who had 19 children. John Wesley was the eighteenth child. She kept that house spic and span and was known as one of the greatest women of faith of her time. She decided she could look after her family and still make spiritual progress. Her domestic duties did not distract her in the least from her spiritual pursuits.

The same goes for students. If they would seek the face of God as earnestly as they seek books, they would find themselves growing in grace like grass by the watercourses.

Constantly Seeking after Pleasure

Another hindrance is the constant seeking after pleasure. There are the physical pleasures: comforts, various vices, food and the rest. And there are mental pleasures, such as social pleasures, gambling and amusements and the reading of fiction. There are aesthetic pleasures: art, music, higher learning and sophisticated culture. All these put together simply give pleasant sensations, the same sensation a baby gets by sucking his thumb. The whole human race has simply grown up seeking pleasure so that we are a race of grownup thumb-suckers. We give over our time to acquiring a pleasant sensation when we ought to give over our time to the advancing of our souls.

Peter says, “Save yourselves from this untoward generation” (Acts 2:40). We may not be in earnest, but God is in dead earnest. God, the Father, was in earnest when He planned and finally accomplished the work of redemption. God, the Son, was in earnest when He sweat great drops of blood in the garden of Gethsemane. And God, the Holy Ghost, is always in earnest when He comes to dwell in the nature of men. We ought to give the more earnest heed lest we drift away from it; lest we should let it slip. If you will notice in the margin of some Bibles, it says, “Lest that anytime we should let them slip” and “run out as a leaking vessel.” Other versions have “we should drift away from it.” A great many people have leaking hearts and spirits.

Letting Truth Leak from Our Heart

We neglect “so great salvation” by drifting from it. And how do we neglect it? We get the truth in our heart, but we let it leak away. It is a heartbreaking truth that some hearts are leaky, and their good resolutions all trickle away.

People remain sober until New Year’s and then on New Year’s Eve, they lose their sobriety and start making resolutions. “I resolve that I will be kinder to my wife this year.” “I resolve that I will give regularly to the church.” “I resolve that I will pray regularly every day.” “I resolve that I will not let a day go by that I do not read the Holy Scriptures.” “I resolve that I will seek to know God better.” “I resolve...”

But the heart is a leaky thing, and before the first of February, the average person’s resolutions have all evaporated. The good intentions, the strong wine of spiritual desire when you heard a man preach whose words touched you particularly; suddenly you can see the strong desire for God. And you long after the strong wine of spiritual desire, but your heart is like a sieve, and pretty soon it all leaks away. Soon there is no desire left at all.

The difference between spiritual things and earthly things is that the things of the spirit are so modest; the things of the spirit are not pushing in on you; they are not singing commercials to you; they are not knocking on your door and urging you to buy; they are simply waiting for you to notice.

Jesus did not lift up His voice nor make Himself heard in the street. He did not cry aloud, but was calm and quiet. People came to Him for the truth. But the things of the flesh are so insistent, so clamorous. Before you are up in the morning, they are clamoring at you, trying to get you interested in buying what they are selling or doing what they have decided you should do. Everybody is singing to you, urging you, pushing you—by example, by precept, by instruction, by advertising and urging—trying to get you to go certain ways and do certain things.

Our Lord is never intrusive; but the things of the world are intrusive. Here is the point I am trying to make: If you are going to give attention to the things of God and save your own soul, you are going to have to have a good intention, a good resolution and then see to it that you do it. Do not let the devil prevent you. You are going to have to take yourself by the scruff of the neck, shake yourself and say, “Now, I don’t know what others are going to do, but as for me, I’m going to seek the face of God. I’m going to see if I can be a better man next week than I was last week, and a better man next month than I was last month.”

God meant it when He gave us the Law. Christ meant it when He died and rose on the third day. The Holy Ghost means it when He quietly speaks to your heart. How much more will we be judged if we heed not the truth that they were judged that heeded not the Law? “For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?” (Heb. 2:2-4).

Some confess, “I intended to... later.” However, there was no later time.

“I didn’t understand,” they say. But they understood enough at the time.

“I was too busy.” But at last they found time to die.

Somebody else says, “Nobody in my crowd paid any attention to these things,” but it is always so. The saving voice of God speaks to a crowd of men, but only one here and there hears it. When the voice of God spoke to the antediluvian world, only Noah and his family heard it. The rest of them perished in the flood.

Somebody else says, “If I pay attention to this, I’ll lose my job.” Chances are, you will not, but if you do, any job you lose saving your soul certainly will be a wonderful bargain. Somebody else says, “I want to have some fun yet. And then I’ll become a Christian.” I will not answer that. It is too meaningless, too lacking in significance to warrant any serious answer. Another says, “I was afraid of what people would say.” Afraid of what people would say? What about what God says?

Society is in an elaborate conspiracy to make us alike. Society is in a conspiracy to make us all bad; not too bad, because if we get too bad, we become a problem to the police. But not too good, for if we get too good, we are fanatical, so they say. So society wants to keep us nice, trimmed down, going to church, supporting boys’ clubs and girls’ clubs and hospitals. Certainly those things are all right. The general society wants to keep us just good enough not to be a problem to the police but bad enough not to bother their conscience.

I hear the voice of God calling us to a higher kind of life. The book of Hebrews is an urgent, vibrant, living book that speaks to those that are on the border and says, “Go on over. You can dare to do it. Go on over.” And it speaks to those who could not quite make up their minds whether they wanted to obey and believe God, and says, “You dare obey. You dare believe.”

Whatever causes us to overcome all hindrances is handsomely rewarded when we break through to the glorious sunshine of His blessed presence.

Love Divine, all Love Excelling
by Charles Wesley (1707–1788)

Love divine, all love excelling,
Joy of heaven, to earth come down;
Fix in us thy humble dwelling;
All thy faithful mercies crown.
Jesus, thou art all compassion,
Pure, unbounded love thou art;
Visit us with thy salvation,
Enter every trembling heart.

Breathe, oh, breathe thy Holy Spirit
Into every troubled breast;
Let us all thy grace inherit;
Let us find thy promised rest;
Take away the love of sinning;
Take our load of guilt away;
End the work of thy beginning;
Bring us to eternal day.

Carry on thy new creation;
Pure and holy may we be;
Let us see our whole salvation
Perfectly secured by thee;
Change from glory into glory,
Till in heaven we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before thee,
Lost in wonder, love, and praise.