About once ever two years I remember to re-read one of the finest short works on Spiritual Growth that I am aware of, The Pursuit of God (Gutenberg full text).  The more popular of Tozer's works among my circles appears to be, The Knowledge of the Holy, an exquisitely written meditation on the attributes of God.  But where Knowledge of the Holy creates an important distance between God and man as exhibited by language beyond many readers (including myself), The Pursuit of God is a plain and passionate plea to draw near to the God who is near.

I just got back from the local bookstore ... where I picked up a copy of the pursuit for a friend.   Having previously given away my own copy, I could not resist reading the first chapter, "Following Hard after God".  Immediately I am possessed with the desire to share a moving quote with the world, and nudge any curious believer to read the very acessible text which has been released to the public domain:

The moment the Spirit has quickened
us to life in regeneration our whole being senses
its kinship to God and leaps up in joyous recognition.
That is the heavenly birth without which we cannot
see the Kingdom of God. It is, however, not an end
but an inception, for now begins the glorious pursuit,
the heart's happy exploration of the infinite riches of
the Godhead. That is where we begin, I say, but where
we stop no man has yet discovered, for there is in the
awful and mysterious depths of the Triune God
neither limit nor end.  (Pg. 14)

Do you follow hard after God?  Or are you satisfied with lesser things?  I found myself convicted when I prayed Tozer's written prayer at the end of the chapter:

O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has
both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am
painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am
ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God,
I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing;
I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy
glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed.
Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to
my soul, "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come
away." Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up
from this misty lowland where I have wandered so
long. In Jesus' Name, Amen.