Sun 9:30a Class; 10:30a Worship; 11:35a Communion
Bible Bites
The Practical Atheist
“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God,’ They are corrupt, and have committed abominable injustice; there is no one who does good.” (Ps 53:1)
Statistics show that intellectual atheism, though rising, is a very small percentage of the population in America (around 3.1% at last count). However, the 53rd Psalm makes it clear that there is another type of atheist that ALL of us are from time-to-time: the practical atheist.
The practical atheist may intellectually accept God’s existence, but then live like He doesn’t exist. Like the man that built bigger barns in Luke 12:16-20 – we reason in our hearts that our interests, our plans, and our desires are the center of the universe. We live like we are gods and He doesn’t exist.
But remember – there is a day of reckoning coming. We all must die and meet our Maker. It is foolish to ignore what cannot be avoided.
“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Heb 9:27)
There is no difference in the consequences between intellectual atheism and practical atheism. That is the scary part – the practical atheist can delude himself into believing that his verbal assertion of God’s existence is enough to compensate for a life that is void of evidence of that belief. When our time, our behavior, our priorities, and our goals look exactly the same as the non-believer, then we have chosen to live like there is no God.
“You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:16-20)
Jesus warned us against the false teachers that would say one thing and then do another. He taught us to pay closer attention to their deeds than we do to their words. Would the same advice not also apply to our own self-examination?
We each need to regular ask ourselves the question – do I bear the fruits of a believer or am I a different sort of tree?
If an independent investigator were to look at my schedule, my emails, my phone conversations, my bank ledgers, and my relationships, would I be found guilty of following Christ?
