Tozer: God Exists For Himself

"God is primary" is the way we say it at Coram Deo. Here's how AW Tozer says it in his marvelous little work titled The Knowledge of the Holy:Almighty God, just because He is almighty, needs no support. The picture of a nervous, ingratiating God fawning over men to win their favor is not a pleasant one; yet if we look at the popular conception of God that is precisely what we see... Probably the hardest thought of all for our natural egotism to entertain is that God does not need our help. We commonly represent him as a busy, eager, somewhat frustrated Father hurrying about seeking help to carry out His benevolent plan to bring peace and salvation to the world...Too many missionary appeals are based upon this fancied frustration of Almighty God. An effective speaker can easily excite pity in his hearers, not only for the heathen but for the God who has tried so hard and so long to save them and has failed for want of support. I fear that thousands of younger persons enter Christian service from no higher motive than to help deliver God from the embarrassing situation His love has gotten Him into and His limited abilities seem unable to get Him out of....It is morally imperative that we purge from our minds [these] ignoble concepts of the Deity and let Him be the God in our minds that He is in the universe. The Christian religion has to do with God and man, but its focal point is God, not man... That God exists for Himself and man for the glory of God is the emphatic teaching of the Bible.