The Pursuit of God

August 2020 Pastor’s Book Club Pick

A. W. Tozer was a pastor and author in the early and mid twentieth century. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1897, and served in C&MA churches in West Virginia, Chicago, and Toronto. In a review of a biography of Tozer, Tim Challies writes,

Tozer was a man who dedicated himself to reading, study and prayer and who delighted to be in the presence of God. “There is no way to measure the hours he spent in a typical day or week reading books and wrestling with ideas, but it was substantial. In a similar vein, we know that he increasingly devoted many hours each week praying, meditating on Scripture, and seeking deeper intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ.”

The Pursuit of God is one of Tozer’s best known works. His goal in this book is to encourage readers to truly experience the presence of God in their life. He shows that we do this when we get rid of distractions and pursue Christ daily.

I love the simplicity of Tozer’s language. He writes of profound ideas in simple ways. His writing is also timeless. It is amazing to see how he anticipated the future problems of the church, as well as how Christians had many of the same challenges in the fifties that we have today.

I’m looking forward to reading this classic devotional with you this month, and discussing it on Sunday the 30th. This month our discussion will be fully online. If you would like to join in, fill out the form here, and you will be sent a link to a Zoom meeting.

You can order the book from your favorite bookstore or the library. Since this book is in the public domain, you can also get a digital copy for free from the Gutenberg Project.

Next month we will be reading On the Road with Saint Augustine by James K. A. Smith.