The Fixed Center and the Tipping Point

10Aug10 The Fixed Center and the Tipping Point

This is another installment in a series that has been adapted from my 11-part CD teaching series on A. W. Tozer’s spiritual classic, The Pursuit of God.

“There must be somewhere,” says Tozer, “a fixed center against which everything else is measured, where the law of relativity does not enter and we can say ‘IS’ and make no allowances. Such a center is God.” When Moses asked God what name he wanted to be called by, God replied, “I AM THAT I AM,” signaling that he is the unchanging and only center of everything that has been created. And therefore everything and everyone must be measured against him, the one eternally fixed point.

If we use ourselves as the fixed center against which everything else is measured, then we only become aware of the infinite distance between us and God. But when we elevate God as the fixed center from which everything else is measured, we become aware of the intimate relationship that can exist between God and us. We are able to regain our moral and spiritual bearings as we navigate life. We must be willing, as Tozer says, “. . . to take God as he is and adjust our lives accordingly.” Yet many of us insist upon doing the opposite by accepting ourselves as we are and then adjusting our view of God accordingly, even re-creating him in our own image. Or to paraphrase Larry Crabb, “Most of us prefer the better life of God’s blessings to the better hope of God’s presence.”

“So,” Tozer implores, “let us begin with God. Back of all, above all, before all is God; first in sequential order, above in rank and station, exalted in dignity and honor.” By giving him his proper place, we discover that we exist by his good pleasure and not by our own efforts. We discover that all we are and have is derived from his gracious hand. Now with him guiding us, our pursuit of God results in bringing our total personhood into conformity with the Person of Jesus Christ.