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“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
John 4:23-24
Reflect
Sebastian is an avowed atheist. If you even bring up the subject of God with him he will tell you how much of a joke God is and that only weak people need to believe in a higher power. Yet Sebastian does believe in helping his fellow man, and he volunteers twice a month at a local homeless shelter run by the city.
Sebastian’s roommate is Josh, who does consider himself to be a Christian. Josh goes to a local church most Sundays, and he will readily tell you that he believes in God and Jesus if you ask him. He doesn’t really read the Bible, and he’s not much for prayer unless there’s a big need. Josh also volunteers at the homeless shelter, and he’s also involved in some of the outreaches of his church. On the weekends when he’s not volunteering, he and Sebastian usually spend a lot of time together, including frequenting the same bars and parties.
Tangibly, what’s the difference between these two guys? Honestly, not much. Frankly, Sebastian is more consistent because he’s openly honest about the depth of his faith. Josh, while having the window-dressing of church, doesn’t really allow his Christianity to penetrate his life. And he’s a symbol of the larger Church, which used to be society’s best help-mate. As the Church has abdicated its role to government, it has settled into the role of interested onlooker. The Church dabbles in the community and helps with some visible needs. But the bigger spiritual needs of society go largely unaddressed as the Church seeks to be modern and socially relevant. In effect, the Church — and many Christians — practice “practical atheism.”
Too many people invest themselves in the activities of the Body of Christ and seek the benefits of the Church, yet never really commit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Christians need to worship Him every day, as well as to be a part of weekly corporate worship and to be involved in the ministries of the Church that reflect the Lord’s will and purpose. This is our ultimate mission, and to forsake it for mere activity and social awareness is to venture into practical atheism.
Today, pray that the Lord will keep you focused on his will, mission and purpose, and that you will clearly allow His light to shine to those you encounter. Pray also that your ministry in His name will not simply be activity, but will be a part of His larger plan to reach out to those who desperately need to know Him.
Reflection copyright © 2024 Doug DeBolt and Charles Fulton
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Atheism is a conclusion that a particular god or gods don’t exist. It isn’t a “faith” no matter how many times a Christian chooses to lie about it.
And curious how christians can’t agree on what the “will” of their god is, choosing to attack each other over whose version is the right one.
It’s a conclusion, but it’s not based on scientific fact. It’s essentially a hypothesis. You believe there is no God, but you can’t prove it. That means that at some level, that belief is based on some kind of faith.
It is a conclusion based on the utter lack of evidence for any gods, Douglas. The sciences have repeatedly shown that your bible is full of ignorance, with its claims of stars being little lights in a solid dome that can be knocked off, disease being the wrath of some god, etc.
No reason to believe in things with no evidence, and when the believers can’t agree on the most basic things.
I can certainly show evidence your version of hte christain god, all of hte others, and the gods of non-christians don’t exist. Not one of the events these gods have supposedly caused have been shown to be real. What we do have at any time claimed by a believer is that no one notices anything strange happening, and they go about their normal unsupernatural lives.
So your claims about some creation, magic flood, exodus of 600,000+ people from egypt and magic plagues, a certain day where there was a major earthquake, the sky darkening and dead jews wandering around roman-occupied jerusalem during a passover etc are all baseless.