Christ calls us to carry the Cross; churches call us to have fun in His name.
Interpretation
The quote expresses the contrast between the true demands of faith and the often superficial approach taken by some religious institutions.
Aiden Wilson Tozer's quote emphasizes the fundamental call of Christ to bear the Cross—representing sacrifice and commitment in one’s faith—while simultaneously critiquing how some churches may prioritize entertainment and enjoyment over genuine spiritual growth. This dichotomy reflects a broader conversation about the commercialism and light-heartedness that can sometimes overshadow the serious, contemplative aspects of true worship and discipleship.
In practice
In a sermon discussing the deeper aspects of faith, one might reference this quote to highlight the importance of spiritual sacrifice over superficial enjoyment.
Peace of heart that is won by refusing to bear the common yoke of human sympathy is a peace unworthy of a Christian. To seek tranquility by stopping our ears to the cries of human pain is to make ourselves not Christian but a kind of degenerate stoic having no relation either to stoicism or Christianity.
The average Christian is so cold and so contented with His wretched condition that there is no vacuum of desire into which the blessed Spirit can rush in satisfying fullness.
Let a man set his heart only on doing the will of God and he is instantly free. If we understand our first and sole duty to consist of loving God supremely and loving everyone, even our enemies, for God's dear sake, then we can enjoy spiritual tranquility under every circumstance.
The church that can't worship must be entertained. And leaders who can't lead a church to worship must provide the entertainment.
Before the Christian Church goes into eclipse anywhere there must first be a corrupting of her simple basic theology. She simply gets a wrong answer to the question, ‘What is God like?’ and goes on from there. Though she may continue to cling to a sound nominal creed, her practical working creed has become false. The masses of her adherents come to believe that God is different from what He actually is; and that is heresy of the most insidious and deadly kind
People who are crucified with Christ have three distinct marks: 1. they are facing only one direction, 2. they can never turn back, and 3. they no longer have plans of their own.
In music, in the sea, in a flower, in a leaf, in an act of kindness... I see what people call God in all these things.
If you write a novel where war is nothing but hell and no one experiences excitement or cracks a dark joke, then you're not actually admitting the full experience.
The test of all beliefs is their practical effect in life. If it be true that optimism compels the world forward, and pessimism retards it, then it is dangerous to propagate a pessimistic philosophy.
Which, I wonder, brother reader, is the better lot, to die prosperous and famous, or poor and disappointed? To have, and to be forced to yield; or to sink out of life, having played and lost the game? That must be a strange feeling, when a day of our life comes and we say, 'To-morrow, success or failure won't matter much; and the sun will rise, and all the myriads of mankind go to their work or their pleasure as usual, but I shall be out of the turmoil.'
It is being common-born that is dangerous, when the great lords play their game of thrones.
Yes, I am a Jew and when the ancestors of the right honorable gentleman were brutal savages in an unknown island, mine were priests in the temple of Solomon.
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