We Don't Bow Down to Men

Much thinking and speaking today revolves around political leaders, or those who are the current darlings in sports, entertainment, books and music.

Christians can be tempted to cultivate--to allow to grow in dominance and importance--the actions, words, worldview and ideologies of people within our midst, or those we consistently--if not obsessively-- observe and monitor from afar. 

We, without perhaps even realizing it, absorb their mindsets and adopt their apparently accepted, if not successful, tactics and strategies. 

Whether these people are Christian or not, by choosing to follow them and desiring to become like them, we become worldly: following after men as those without Christ do.

The discipline of a Spirit-lived life is essential in countering this tendency. 

A Spirit-lived life looks on every person in the world with Godly discernment, through a Biblical grounding. Even within Christendom, we are to worship no other Christian:

"Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, 'I am of Paul,' and 'I of Apollos,' and 'I of Cephas,' and 'I of Christ'. Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?" 1 Corinthians 1:12-13.

A Spirit-lived life builds on the foundation of Christ alone:

"For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 3:11

A Spirit-filled life does not quench the Spirit but examines everything carefully (1 Thessalonians 5:19; 21).

A.W. Tozer addresses person-worship in The Counselor, published by Moody Publishers. He writes:

     "Jesus Christ stands alone, unique and supreme, self-validating, and the Holy Spirit declares Him to be God's eternal Son. Let all the presidents and all the kings and queens, the senators, and the lords and ladies of the world, along with the great athletes and great actors--let them kneel at His feet and cry, 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!' (Revelation 4:8b). 
     Only the Holy Spirit can do this, my brethren. For that reason, I don't bow down to great men. I bow down to the Great Man, and if you have learned to worship the Son of Man, you won't worship other men. 
     You see, it is the Holy Spirit or darkness. The Holy Spirit is God's imperative of life. If your faith is to be New Testament faith, if Christ is to be the Christ of God rather than the Christ of intellect, then we must enter in beyond the veil. We have to push in past the veil until the illumination of the Holy Spirit fills our heart and we are learning at the feet of Jesus--not at the feet of men." A.W. Tozer

copyright Barb Harwood


"Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you;" Deuteronomy 6:13

"Stop trusting in man,
who has but a breath in his nostrils. 
Of what account is he?" Isaiah 2:22

"Jesus answered him, 'It is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'" Luke 4:8