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The low conception of God, which is found almost everywhere among Christians today, is also the basis for numerous minor and widespread evils. This one error in our religious thinking leads to a completely new conception of our Christian life.
With the loss of the concept of majesty, we also lose awareness of God's presence and reverence for Him. We have lost the spirit of worship and the ability to gather ourselves inwardly and encounter God in worshipful silence. Modern Christianity simply no longer produces Christians who truly appreciate or personally experience life in the Spirit. The words "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10) no longer mean much to the busy believer of today.
This loss of the concept of God's majesty occurred precisely at a time when religious powers were achieving sensational successes and churches were experiencing a new flourishing. The frightening aspect is that our successes are largely external, while our losses are exclusively internal. But precisely because the quality of our faith depends on our inner state, our supposed successes could in reality prove to be profound losses.
What we have lost spiritually, we can only regain by uncovering the causes and making the necessary corrections. Our difficulties began with our loss of knowledge of the holy God, and we will only overcome these difficulties by rediscovering God's majesty. As long as our conceptions of God are false or inadequate, it is impossible to maintain healthy behavior and inner attitudes. If our lives are to regain spiritual power, we must begin by thinking about God as He truly is.
Actions are an expression of the knowledge of God.
One day it will likely become apparent that a people has always remained at the level of its religion, and the history of human thought will surely show that no religion has ever been greater than its conception of God. The level of religious worship depends on whether the believer has a high or low understanding of God. Therefore, the conception of God itself is always the most crucial question for a community, and similarly, what matters most to a person is not what they say or do at any given moment, but their understanding of God.
Due to a hidden law of the soul, we tend to strive to conform to our spiritual image of God. This applies not only to the individual believer but also to the community of believers, the church. The most revealing aspect of a church is always its conception of God, and its message is characterized by what it says or remains silent about God—and sometimes silence speaks louder than words. A church can never prevent its image of God from being revealed.
If it were possible to obtain a comprehensive answer from any person to the question of what goes through their mind when they think of God, we could certainly predict that person's spiritual future. If we knew what the influential and leading figures in religious life think of God today, we could foresee with some accuracy where the church will stand tomorrow.
Only through painful self-examination can we find out what we truly think about God.
Correct knowledge of God is fundamental to faith.
Without a doubt, the greatest thought of which the human mind is capable is the thought of God, and the most significant word in any language is its expression of God. Thinking and speaking are gifts that God gives to His creatures, created in His image. Both are closely and inextricably linked to Him. It is of paramount importance that the first word was the Word : “The Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). We can speak because God speaks. In Him, word and thought are inseparable.
It is of utmost importance to us that our conception of God comes as close as possible to the true nature of God. Compared to what we truly think about God, professions of faith are of lesser significance. Our actual conception of God may lie buried beneath the rubble of common religious notions, and it requires a thoughtful and determined search to finally unearth it and make it recognizable. Only through painful self-examination can we discover what we truly think about God at our core.
A correct conception of God is not only the foundation for systematic theology, but also for practical faith. It is the bedrock of worship. If it is too small or poorly constructed, the entire edifice must collapse sooner or later. I hardly believe that there are any errors in doctrine or failures in practical Christian life that cannot ultimately be traced back to imperfect and inadequate conceptions of God.
In my opinion, the conception of God held by today's Christians is so decadent that it in no way corresponds to the dignity of God, the Most High. That this is also true among devout believers is almost a moral catastrophe.
True knowledge of God directs one's gaze towards the eternal.
If we were confronted all the problems of heaven and earth at once, they would pale in comparison to the paramount question of God: His existence, His nature, and the responsibilities we, as moral beings, have toward Him. Those who attain true faith in God are relieved of a multitude of earthly problems, for they immediately recognize that these arise from things that will occupy them only briefly, if at all. But even if the numerous earthly problems were removed, the mighty burden of eternity would begin to weigh upon them in their place, far heavier than all the world's troubles combined.
This mighty burden is an obligation to God. It entails the lifelong duty to love God with all the powers of mind and soul, to be completely obedient to Him, and to worship Him as is fitting. When a troubled conscience tells a person that they have done none of this, but have instead been guilty of shameful rebellion against the majesty of Heaven since childhood, the inner self-accusation can become unbearable.
The Gospel has the power to free the soul from this destructive burden and replace the oppressed spirit with praise. However, as long as a person does not feel the weight of this burden, the Gospel means nothing to them. And until they have recognized the majesty and greatness of God, there will be no inner distress for them. For those who have a low conception of God, the Gospel is ineffective.
False knowledge of God leads to idolatry.
Hardly any sin the human heart is capable of is more abhorrent to God than idolatry; for it is an insult to God. The idolatrous heart presupposes that God is other than He is—this in itself is a monstrous sin—and replaces the true God with one that corresponds to its own conception. This God is always an image of his Creator and will be base or pure, cruel or benevolent—depending on the moral disposition of the mind from which he sprang.
A god born in the dark heart of a fallen man will never bear true resemblance to the real God. “You thought,” the Lord says to the wicked in the Psalm, “that I was like you” (Psalm 50:21). This is undoubtedly a serious insult to the Most High, to whom the cherubim and seraphim ceaselessly cry out: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty!” (Isaiah 6:3).
Let us be careful not to fall prey to the mistaken belief, in our pride, that only kneeling before objects and worshipping them constitutes idolatry, and therefore it doesn't exist among civilized peoples! The essence of idolatry lies in clinging to conceptions of God that are unworthy of God. It originates in the human mind and can be present even where it is not manifested in outward religious acts. "For although they knew God," writes Paul, "they neither honored him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened" (Romans 1:21).
Then followed the worship of idols in the form of humans, birds, four-legged animals, and reptiles. This entire series of degrading acts originates in the human mind. Perverted conceptions of God are not only the source from which the tainted water of idolatry flows, but they are themselves idolatry. The idolater creates his own conceptions of God and acts as if they were true.
False knowledge of God leads to spiritual decline.
Where distorted views of God arise within a religion, they soon lead to its decline. The long history of Israel demonstrates this clearly enough, and the history of the Church of Jesus also proves it. A sublime conception of God is absolutely essential for the church; if this image of God diminishes even slightly, it inevitably has negative consequences for worship and the moral standards of the church. The first step on a church's downward path is always taken when it abandons its lofty conception of God.
The decline of a Christian community is usually preceded by a weakening of its theological foundations. It gives a false answer to the question, "What is God like?" and all subsequent steps follow from this. Even if it still clings to its theoretical creed, this is no longer put into practice. The followers of these communities thus form an image of God that has nothing to do with reality, and this constitutes heresy of the most insidious and deadly kind.
The most serious task facing the church today is to purify and enhance its concept of God so that it is once again worthy of God. This should be paramount in all prayer and action. We render the greatest service to future generations of believers by always passing on, unchanged, the sublime concept of God that we have received from our Jewish and Christian ancestors. This will prove to be of greater value to them than anything that art or science can conceive.
AW Tozer (1897 – 1963)
From "The Nature of God – Attributes of God and their Significance for the Life of Faith," from the foreword and the chapter "It is important to imagine God correctly!", Hänssler Publishing House