Seeking Man's Favor: The Root of Religious Unbelief

         By A. W. Tozer

       How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another,
         and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?
                                                                             -  -  John 5:44

             The whole course of our lives will be upset -- by failure
         to put God where He belongs.  We exalt ourselves
         instead of God and the curse follows!

             Consider the very disturbing question that Jesus
         asked of men when He was on earth: How can ye believe,
         which receive honour one of another, and seek not
         the honour that cometh from God only?

             If I understand this correctly, Christ taught here the
         alarming doctrine that the desire for honor among men
         made belief impossible!

             Is this sin at the root of religious unbelief?

             Could it be that those "intellectual difficulties" which
         men blame for their inability to believe are but smoke
         screens to conceal the real cause that lies behind them?

             Was it this greedy desire for honor from man that
         made men into Pharisees and Pharisees into Deicides?

             Is this the secret back of religious self-righteousness
         and empty worship?  I believe it may be.

           Men and women who will make the honest once-for-all
         decision to exalt and honor God and His Christ over all - are
         precious to God above all treasures of earth or sea, for He
         knows that His honor is safe in such consecrated hands!

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         Yours in Christ,
          Paul N. F.