Book Review: The Purpose of Man: Designed to Worship by A.W. Tozer

I read The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer about six months ago and I fell in love with the author. It was a no-frills type of book that left me wanting to truly pursue God more actively in my life. It was definitely one of the best reads of 2011 for me. So, I was intrigued by some of his author books, and I absolutely love the topic of worship, so the marriage of the two seemed like a match made in heaven for me, and I had some pretty high hopes for the book.

As I began the book, there were a few things that Tozer writes that I do not see eye-to-eye with him on, but I continued the read. Tozer seems, to me, very serious about worship, but also very serious about the style of worship. His opinion is that there needs to be a definite line between worship in the church and popular culture. The two shall not meet. I am not sure if that was a cultural thing 50 years ago, or if it is a testament to his intimacy with God, or if it was simply his unwavering opinion. Either way, I disagree with his opinion, and that is fine, but it gave me a different view of the man that is A.W. Tozer.

The gold in the book, to me, is in the final chapter, where he discusses how to be a worshiper. Tozer tells us throughout the book that our primary purpose, and maybe even sole purpose, is to be a worshiper of God. Everything else in life should stem from that. He indicates that this needs to be the primary purpose of our churches as well. I can totally agree with this, because there are way too many churches that are in the business of entertaining just until the sermon is preached, and worship never is accomplished. I believe that churches across the nation are lacking the power that is available to them, and the access to that power is found through worship.

Finally, Tozer challenges us to be worshipers. He encourages us to take the Bible, a notebook and a hymnal into our worship times with God. Singing songs to God, adoring Him, praising and worshiping Him can really set the stage for some incredible times with Him.

All in all, I like this book a lot, and will read it again some time in my life. I “chewed up the meat and spit out the bones,” especially in regards to Tozer’s stance on popular culture vs. the church, but it doesn’t detract from the fact that the purpose for us is to worship, and we must do what it takes to get ourselves to that purpose.