I also have read the God Chasers. I LOVED that book as well. It birthed a desire in me that I would no longer be content with the status quo of "church". I can settle for no less than all of my Lord.
I am currently reading a book (and commentary) by Paul Philip Levertoff titled Love and the Messianic Age. This book has surpassed any other book I have read so far in that my love for the LORD has multiplied to a degree I do not yet understand.
Here's a few excerpts from the book:
In His relations with man on earth, God has shown Himself a king who desires to make His abode with us her below. The higher a being, the lower he is able to condescend. God wished to be among the small and despised, not as a sultan ruling in his palace, hidden and ruling only by power, but as a good and wise king whose one desire is to draw his subjects to himself; a king who also, out of love for his own, forsakes his palace and dwells among his people in order to unite himself with them, that they may see more of his glory and learn more of his character.
Creation, indeed, signifies of God's perfection. In creation God has by an act of self-limitation created conscious beings, that these may have the joy, first, of realizing their selfhood, and then, of realizing Him, their Creator, and of receiving Him into their innermost life as their Father and King. The proof of God's love lies less in the fact that He raises creatures to Himself, than in that He stoops to have His tabernacle among men and thus reveal Himself to them. A beautiful simile illustrates this point. It is as though a man accompanied by his young son were climbing a mountain. As the father reaches the summit, he turns to find that the son is far below. But they can still see one another. The son longs to reach the father, but the higher he rises, the more strenuous becomes the task. What does the father do when he sees the intense desire on the part of the son to come to him? He can restrain himself no longer, but comes down to meet him. Even so does God in answer to the strivings of the mystic soul. (p.35 & 36)
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When all our thoughts and actions are the outcome of divine inspiration, then we unite everything that is seemingly separated from and independent of God with Him. And so we cooperate with Him in His redemptive activities and prepare the way for the Messiah. The following parable illustrates this:
A king lost a costly pearl. He sent out his three sons to find it. The first set out, glad to be free from the restraint of his father's presence. He cared neither for the pearl nor for his father. He never returned, but spent his life in following his own pleasure. The second set forth, made a hasty search, and quickly returned to his father's house, not because he so greatly loved his father but because he was loath to be away so long from the comforts of his home. Now, the third set out, full of sorrow at leaving his home and his beloved father, but determined, notwithstanding all his own suffering and separation, to stay away and make diligent search until he should find the pearl, because he knew what great joy the finding of it would give to his father.
One man is altogether absorbed in the things of this world. Another is eager to please God, not out of love for Him, but because he is afraid to lose the future bliss in paradise. But there are some men who love God for His own sake and search for the divine sparks which are scattered in this world, in man and nature, and try to bring them back to their source.
Man has been created by God in order that he may finish what God has deliberately left unfinished. Not that God needs the help of His creatures, but it is His love which causes Him to impart His own Nature to the work of His hands, in order that man should have the privilege and joy of becoming His fellow-worker in this world, in natural as well as in spiritual life.(p. 40 & 41)
Excellent points.
Will keep an eye out for your last book recommend.
Thanks much for your post.
I quite agree.
PRAISE GOD.