"When the eyes of the soul looking out meet the eyes of God looking in, heaven has begun right here on this
earth."
Tozer
An essential element to our drawing near to God is faith. As Tozer says, the Bible does not go to great lengths to define faith for us. We are told it is a gift of God and that it comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. He goes on to say that "look" and "believe" are synonymous terms in scripture. We look with our physical eyes and believe with the heart: "faith is the gaze of a soul upon a saving God."
Jesus walked this earth with His eyes lifted to the Father. In the same way, for us "faith is not a once-done act, but a continuous gaze of the heart at the Triune God." Our believing is our constant focus on Jesus. "Faith is occupied with the object upon which it rests and pays no attention to self at all." A tall order for most of us. "Unbelief has put self where God should be... Faith looks out instead of in and the whole life falls into line."
Belief, faith, is foundational to everything else - prayer, Bible study, church attendance, work and activity. It gives meaning to it all. Without faith it all becomes merely duty. Tozer suggests that "social religion is perfected when private religion is purified." Perhaps this is the answer we've all been looking for, this unbroken gaze of the heart at God.
"When the habit of inwardly gazing Godward becomes fixed within us we shall be ushered onto a new level of spiritual life more in keeping with the promises of God and the mood of the New Testament. The Triune God will be our dwelling place even while our feet walk the low road of simple duty here among men."
Blessings,
Linda
Thanks to Mr. Tozer for once again doing so much of the writing for me.
