A.W. Tozer emphasizes the importance of placing God at the center of our lives, using Jacob's transformation from naming a place Beth-el to El-beth-el as a metaphor for spiritual growth. He warns that many Christians remain at the initial stage of recognizing God but fail to prioritize Him above all else, including the church. Tozer challenges believers to reflect on their true interests, questioning whether they focus more on their church or their relationship with Christ. He asserts that while church involvement is valuable, it should never overshadow the personal connection with God. Ultimately, Tozer calls for a shift from merely acknowledging God to making Him the central focus of our lives.

After Jacob's first memorable encounter with God in the wilderness, he called the place Beth-el, which means "the house of God." Many years later, after he had suffered and sinned and repented, and discovered the worthlessness of all earthly things, he renamed the place, El-beth-el; literally "the God of the house of God." Thus Jacob had shifted his emphasis from the sacred place to the God he had met there. God Himself now took the center of his interest. We need to consider that many Christians never get beyond Beth-el. God is in their thoughts but Re has not been given first place. Faithfulness to the local church is a good thing; but when the church becomes so large and important that it hides God from our eyes, it may become a good thing wrongly used. Always God must be first-and we ought never forget that the church was never intended to substitute for God! What is our primary interest? Is it Beth-el or El-beth-el? Is it my church or my Lord? Is it my creed or my Christ?