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  THINKING WELL
  by A.W. Tozer
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Summary: To think well and usefully, one must be completely honest and
transparently sincere, with a grave attitude toward life, mankind, and
God.

Topics: "Sincerity in Faith", "Creative Thinking"
Scripture References: Psalm 119:105, Proverbs 4:23, Isaiah 26:3, Matthew 5:8, Romans 12:2, 2 Corinthians 10:5, Philippians 4:8, Colossians 3:2, James 1:5, 1 Peter 5:8

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DESCRIPTION
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A.W. Tozer emphasizes that true religious thinkers are deeply engaged
with the struggles of life rather than detached intellectuals. They are
often burdened individuals who seek practical solutions in a troubled
world, rather than mere theorists. To think well, one must possess
honesty and sincerity, as insincerity disqualifies a person from
grasping divine thoughts. The sanctified thinker is portrayed as a
traveler in a wilderness, focused on finding a way to safety rather than
on the impact of their path on others. Tozer asserts that great thoughts
require a serious and grave attitude towards life, God, and humanity.

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CONTENT
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The creative religious thinker is not a daydreamer, not an ivory tower
intellectual carrying on his lofty cogitations remote from the rough
world; he is more likely to be a troubled, burdened man weighed down by
the woes of existence, occupied not with matters academic or theoretical
but the practical and personal. The great religious thinkers of the past
were rarely men of leisure; mostly they were men of affairs, close to
and very much a part of the troubled world. Neither will the sanctified
thinker of our times be a poet gazing at a sunset from some quiet
secluded spot, but one who feels himself a traveler lost in a wilderness
who must find his way to safety.

That others will later follow the path he makes will not be primary in
his thinking.

Later he will understand this, but for the time being he will be all
engaged hunting the way out for himself. To think well and usefully a
man must be endowed with certain indispensable qualifications. He must,
for one thing, be completely honest and transparently sincere. The
trifler is automatically eliminated. He is weighed in the balance and
found too light to be entrusted with the thoughts of God. Let but a
breath of levity enter the mind and the power to do creative thinking
instantly goes out. And by levity I do not mean wit or even humor; I do
mean insincerity, sham, the absence of moral seriousness. Great thoughts
require a grave attitude toward life and mankind and God.

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/aw-tozer/thinking-well/
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