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Practical Atheism

When I used to work for a Christian social justice agency, there were people there from a variety of Christian and non-Christian traditions. The Executive Director at the time really liked the breadth of traditions as he felt it gave a more complete view of what the church of Jesus is supposed to look like. Diversity is a good thing, but for a Christ-focused ministry, this meant there were people ministering in the Name of Jesus who did not know who He was.

In the church, the spectrum of faith is similar. There are those who are fully committed to Christ and accept all the teachings of historical orthodoxy. On the other side, you find some who may be there for reasons other than faith. It might be friendship or business. Maybe they are seekers or worse, wolves in sheep’s clothing. And in between, you find many who have accepted Jesus as their Savior, but in their day to day living, He plays little if any role in how they live their lives. Some might describe this as a form of practical atheism.

Yes, we believe that God exists, that He created the heavens and the earth. We believe that the Bible is accurate, and that paradise awaits, but we often live at a practical level as if there is no God. So what does this look like? It manifests itself in how we approach life.

We worry too much. We control too much. We demand too much. We regret too much. We run after God replacements too much. We do all these things because we have forgotten God’s presence, power, and glory. If you look around and look at yourself, you will see evidence of practical atheism everywhere in the lives of Christians.

Bringing it home, how many of us find ourselves falling into this form of atheism? This week, how many thoughts did you have, words did you speak or decisions did you make that ignored or omitted God from the process?

It is embarrassing for me to admit my practical atheism to you, but I am not always good at preaching the gospel to myself or allowing it to influence everything I think, say, and do, even though I teach it to others publicly. Writing this reminds me that I cannot share truths that I myself do not first desperately need. If I ever stop being the first person to hear my sermons or read my blogs, I should stop preaching and writing. That is why I always ask that people remember to pray for me that I would walk the talk with courage and hope.

There is another side to practical atheism that we need to be aware of. Maybe we are not as extreme to assess our lives in a God-absent way, but perhaps the God we remember is small, distant, disconnected, uncaring, and seemingly unwise. In many ways we do not realize, we experience trouble not only because of the stress of life in a broken world but also because of how we interpret the character, size, and strength of the God who rules that brokenness.

I have talked to many people about the Lord when they are in the middle of their difficulties, and after listening to them, I have concluded that if I believed in the same “God” they described, I would be in a panic too. For many practical atheists, this causes them to stumble.

So where do we go from here? I think it starts with humbly admitting our vulnerability to being a practical atheist is the first step. But then we need to ask for help. We need to ask the Lord to give you spiritual eyes that see His infinite grandeur everywhere. You cannot correctly understand your life and make God-honoring choices unless you look at it through the lens of a God-centered worldview. God first, God all the time.

Admission or confession leads to prayer. We need to pray that God would grace us with the wisdom and strength to avoid measuring the size and nearness of God by assessing your circumstances. Our response and view of God are often based on our evaluation of what is going on in our lives. Our devotion to Him is often conditioned and conditional. Your interpretation of God will never be either accurate or stable if you have arrived at it by trying to figure out what He is doing in the situations in your life.

When the Lord answers these prayers, and He will, your heart will be progressively washed clean of the cynicism, doubt, fear, discouragement, anxiety, worry, and control that defines practical atheism. The Christian life is about progressively becoming more like Jesus. This happens as we spend time in prayer, time in His Word and applying those truths in our lives. May the Lord grant us grace to draw closer to Him and through His Spirit live our lives in His presence every day.

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