Practical Atheism

Practical Atheism

Human beings seem to be exceptionally endowed with the ability to find the faults in others.  We are able to pinpoint their inconsistencies, dissect their flaws with the ease of a trained therapist, and for good measure, clearly define their faults just in case they do not understand the depth of their own problems.  Hyperbole aside, do you think there is a hint of truth in the above statement?  Do we tend to be more skilled at finding the imperfections and struggles of others than we are of diagnosing ourselves?

Maybe this is the reason Jesus spoke on multiple occasions about harsh judgment toward others (see Matthew 7.1-5 and John 7.24).  It also illustrates the reason that we must be all the more diligent to accurately assess ourselves in relation to God.  As quickly as we tend to judge others, we are often just as slow to see the truth in ourselves regarding our own struggles.

So, for this week, let’s briefly exchange our microscopes for mirrors.  Either now or later this week, I encourage you to read Jeremiah 7.1-29.  I like to refer to the situation described in this text as Practical Atheism.  Practical atheism, unlike atheism, is a condition that can only define those who confess a belief in God, as opposed to those who completely deny Him.  What is practical atheism?  It is the idea that one can stand before God in regular worship, yet one’s life outside of worship is fundamentally no different than an actual atheist.  Consider this brief synopsis of Jeremiah 7.

• Jeremiah was to proclaim this message in the gate of the Lord’s house to worshipers (v. 2)
• They needed to change (v. 3)
• They felt their relationship to the temple itself was adequate (v. 4)
• Their treatment of one another was shocking (vs. 5-6)
• They had divided loyalties with other gods (vs. 8-9)

If these were not bad enough, I have saved the worst—and most deceptive—for last.  Jeremiah accused them of praising God for the delivery that allowed them to live this way.  Read the previous sentence again, slowly, to make sure you grasp it well.  Simply put, they praised God on one day, lived like there was no God the other days, and credited God with this supposed reality.

Had they honestly assessed themselves with the ease often witnessed in judging others, they could have seen this glaring inconsistency which I call practical atheism.  Despite Jeremiah’s clear reminder, they still failed to change.  Let us not fall into the same category.  Let us not sing to God as our Everything and treat Him as nothing.  Let us not commune with Him on Sunday and ignore Him Monday through Saturday.  Let us not praise Him for His blessings and then allow those same blessings to preoccupy us to the degree that we no longer have time for Him.  Let us not teach the love of Jesus and live as though others are below us.

Our God is amazing.  The story of Jesus is unparalleled.  Let us not take these two realities for granted and live a life of practical atheism.  As individual Christians, and family units, our lives must show others that God has completely altered our present existence as well as our eternities.