"Christ calls men to carry a cross; we call them to have fun in His name. He calls them to forsake the world; we assure them that if they but accept Jesus the world is their oyster. He calls them to suffer; we call them to enjoy all the bourgeois comforts modern civilization affords. He calls them to spread themselves like green bay trees or perchance even to become stars in a pitiful fifth-rate religious zodiac. He calls them to holiness; we call them to a cheap and tawdry happiness that would have been rejected with scorn by the least of the Stoic philosophers." - A.W. Tozer, Warfare of the Spirit, pp. 83-84
Tozer has a way of smacking me right in the face. As I read the quote above, I wrote this question: "What are we calling people to?" When I'm calling people to a saving knowledge and relationship with Christ, what am I saying in order to "make the sale"? This quote made me stop in my tracks and reassess the motivation of my heart and the methods that I use in calling people to abandon and surrender their lives for the sake of taking up a cross and following Jesus. A life with Christ is the ultimate life. I will not deny that. However, I must be honest in presenting what this life requires of me and to those who choose to follow Jesus.
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