Today is just a ramble of interacting thoughts…
I know a man. He was in the church for 40 years. Today he is an atheist. I know a few more men…and women. Some studied theology at university, some were trained in church for leadership roles, some were just regular churchgoers, and some were the children of missionaries. None of them believe in God anymore.
And I have to ask myself… what happened? or… what didn’t happen?
Think about Paul…
Paul had everything going for him. Born in Tarsus (a quite prominent city) of Roman birth (so with doors and prospects open to him) and then educated and raised in the Jewish religious institutions, knowing everything there is to know about God and what God has done, asked for, decreed and accomplished with the nation of Israel.
Saul the zealous murderer in the name of the God of Israel became in a matter of moments, Paul the one who preached love, peace, compassion and longsuffering and above all Grace
What changed in the man?
The one who knew everything about God… actually met God.
The thing is that knowledge of God just condemns you if you do not meet God… if you do not have a relationship with God. It just becomes a driving force to try and try until you fail… until you give up.
Simon the Sorcerer did all the right things. He realised the power of God, the reality of God, the Truth of God. He became a follower and was even baptised. But for some reason, he didn’t meet God? (Because in the end, he tried to buy the power of the Holy Spirit from Peter.)
“I want this power too. I’m willing to pay you for the anointing that you have, so that I also can lay my hands on everyone to receive the Holy Spirit.”
(Acts 8:19 TPT)
These days I seem to run into more and more Social Media Atheists (or maybe people are just more open to sharing their lack of Faith from safety, shielded behind a computer screen) and as much as their posts irritate me and offend, I have come to feel that maybe (at least some of it) it is a cry for the relationship that we have?
Remember Paul and the slave girl whose owners made money by her fortune-telling? She followed Paul and Silas and mocked and shouted, day after day:
“These men are servants of the Great High God, and they’re telling us how to be saved!”
(Acts 16:17)
And I am wondering… Instead of engaging on what worldly lie was posted, if I asked more often: “Would you like to meet Christ?”
If you stay on their threads, you learn that they are often disappointed by religion. Christians disappointed them or caused them harm, and the church failed them in their eyes, sometimes legitimately. So instead of entering into the conflict under the guise of “defending the Faith”, what if step up and introduce my Saviour? I’d probably get blocked, but I think it’s worth a shot?
Anyhoo… Going to Church, singing songs of Worship, reading the Bible… all good things but unless you have met Christ, and have a relationship with God. Life will be empty and a chase after the wind.
I never understood how this could be. But it is actually easy. The devil convinces us that our time needs to be spent learning about God, instead of spending time with God. And it is such a beautiful lie that looks so much like the truth because we do need to learn about God, but spending time with Him, is the relationship.
Have you spoken to Jesus this morning?
