Tozer on the Cross

I read a lot of A.W. Tozer books in college. I was so impacted by his work that I even did a portion of my senior writing project on his life and ministry. The other day I was reminded of one of my favorite books by him, The Radical Cross. This book is a compilation of things he wrote specifically on the cross of our Christ. I read the book the summer before my senior year in college as I prepared to lead a residence hall of women, and it changed me. It's hard to even pick a section of the book that is most powerful. It's just dripping with wonder and reverence for the cross. Below is the section that I read to my residence hall women at the beginning of the semester. It hits you hard, but sometimes a two by four to the head is what we need to remind us of our need to be awestruck by the cross.

"Though the cross of Christ has been beautified by the poet and the artist, the avid seeker after God is likely to find it the same savage implement of destruction it was in the days of old. The way of the cross is still the pain-wracked path to spiritual power and fruitfulness.

So do not seek to hide from it. Do not accept any easy way. Do not allow yourself to be patted to sleep in a comfortable church, void of power and barren of fruit. Do not paint the cross nor deck it with flowers. Take it for what it, as it is, and you will find it the rugged way to death and life. Let it slay you utterly."