The Essence of the Book:

Tozer’s book, The Pursuit of God, is renowned for striking a meaningful chord with countless Christians striving to deepen their relationship with God. This book is a perennial classic for Christians of all convictions.

The Quotable Tozer: Wise Words with a Prophetic Edge captures a fuller picture of Tozer. Like he did with the works of Oswald Chambers, Harry Verploegh researched all of Tozer’s works and words and then excerpted quotes for an anthology of meaningful topics—“spirituality,” “peace,” and “experience”

Whitestone Commentary:

“Truth is a glorious but hard mistress. She never consults, bargains or compromises.”

This is one of scores of relatively short entries (many quotes are longer than this one) in The Quotable Tozer and itself embodies what that book is about: experience-tested truth captured by a seasoned pastor, editor, and author with a definitive gifting for effectively encapsulating spiritual anchors and guidance.

This anthology can be used very fruitfully in many ways. Need guidance on a particular topic? Whimsically ready to open to a page at random and be challenged, entertained, or activated to a greater level of thinking? Want to grow deeper in a particular area and need a half-dozen pertinent insights? Looking for a resource that can work as a devotional prompt, prompting you to flip open your Bible?

The key is Tozer’s unique perspectives—this book is a huge batch of quick doses of wisdom and insight, often with a twist that deeply satisfies.

But the main event for so many Christians has been The Pursuit of God. Tozer’s guidance on going deeper with God thoughtfully is seriously priceless.

“The Bible will never be a living book to us until we are convinced that God is articulate in His universe.” Tozer writes this powerful phrase in the normal flow of his thinking, and in so writing such gems as this, Tozer makes his book a “living book” itself. God gave Tozer the equipment to be articulate and eloquent and pointedly helpful, all in the same delivery.

Tozer’s writing is unusually adept at startling the reader into just the right contemplation of God for that moment. If I had to recommend a single book besides the Bible for the spiritual growth of a born-again believer, it would be The Pursuit of God. There may not be a better Bible supplement to stimulate the serious Christian into more fully fulfilling the first commandment: to love God with all one’s strength.

Read this book straight through. Beautifully crafted, short and succinct, the pace will be yours alone as you pause at the mileposts or cul-de-sacs most meaningful to you. This book’s content is lively and impactful in every way, weaving its way into a thicket of intertwined insights. My favorite chapter? “The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing”…a masterpiece. Even the title resonates and accurately sets the tone for the words that follow.

Fittingly near the end of his final chapter, “The Sacrament of Living”: “It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular; it is why he does it. The motive is everything. Let a man sanctify the Lord God in his heart and he can thereafter do no common act…His entire life will be a priestly ministration.”

Just so. As I exhort every incoming college freshman: “Every Christian is called to full-time ministry!”

Tozer. After reading The Pursuit of God, it’s likely you will feel you know him and his heart better than people you have known your whole life. And in so doing, you will learn how a diligently pursuing Christian can grow closer still to God.

Reviewed by Kevin Miller