The Importance of Right Relationship with God

 

By A. W. Tozer

 

 

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our Spirit,

that we are children of God.       Romans 8:16

 

     Many men and women are seeking counsellors to aid

them with their confessed feelings of emptiness and

inadequacy.  Each seems to have a plea about becoming

a "whole person."

 

    The importance of coming back into right relationship

with God cannot be overestimated as we seriously think

and study and pray.

 

    By the mysterious operation of the Spirit of God in

the new birth, that which is called by Peter "the divine

nature" enters the deep-in core of the believer's heart

and establishes residence there. "If any man have not

the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his," for "the Spirit

itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the

children of God" (Rom. 8:9, 16).

 

    Such a one is a true Christian, and only such. Baptism,

confirmation, the receiving of the sacraments, church

membership --- these mean nothing unless the supreme

act of God in regeneration also takes place!

 

    Religious externals may have a meaning for the God-

inhabited soul; for any others they are not only useless,

but may actually become snares, deceiving them into a

false and perilous sense of security.

 

  "Keep thy heart with all diligence" is more than a wise

saying; it is a solemn charge laid upon us by the One who

cares most about us!

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Yours in Christ,

Paul N. F.