I heard a joke many years ago that has stuck with me. Though various versions likely exist, it goes something like this:
God was sitting in heaven one day when a scientist said to Him, “God, we don’t need you anymore. Science has finally figured out a way to create life out of nothing – in other words, we can now do what you did in the beginning.”
“Oh, is that so? Tell Me…” replies God.
“Well,” says the scientist, “we can take dirt and form it into the likeness of you and breathe life into it, thus creating man.”
“Well, that’s very interesting…show Me.”
So the scientist bends down to the earth and starts to mold the soil into the shape of a man.
“No, no, no…” interrupts God, “Get your own dirt.”
While certain to rouse a few chuckles, a bit of sadness accompanies this joke. We are reminded that people think they can live without God. They think that they do not need God. They do not even believe in God. The Apostle Paul says in Romans 1 that they have “exchange the truth for a lie” (v. 25). We may be quick to condemn atheists for this, but I wonder if believers as well have committed this sin.
I read a term this week that I can’t say I’ve run across before – “Functional Atheist.” The term describes Christians, believers, who live as if there is no God. They have placed their faith in Christ for salvation and are excited about the future that awaits them in heaven, but between rebirth & death have decided to function in many ways as if there is no God.
Now, I’m not speaking of what we might call flagrant and despicable sins though that can certainly be included. No rather, I’m talking about our every day existence and making sure that God is a part of that. Paul Tripp made these remarks in an article I read this week:
We often live–at a functional level–as if there is no God. 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.”
Paul David Tripp
What is meant by this? In one facet, it means that God is good enough to save us but is often treated as too small to deal with life’s problems or too insignificant to bring them to Him. We face the trials in our own strength. We solve the problems with our own intuition. Life is lived according to the desires of the heart rather than the moral instructions and principles of the Bible.
Thinking about this and David’s words in Psalm 139:23-24, I carefully evaluate my own life. I am certainly thankful for salvation in Jesus Christ and look forward to my heavenly home. But in the in-between, I confess that struggle with self-made security. I confess how often I have quickly turned to worry and anxiety in situations when the God I serve created the universe by the word of His mouth and continues to sustain it by His power (Gen 1:1, 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26; Col 1:17). He cares for the sparrow Jesus once said (Matt 6:25-34). Will He not also care for me when my troubles are but a speck of dust figuratively speaking in comparison to His might? He holds me securely in His hand (John 10:28-29), should I worry? Should I be anxious? I should be turning to Him rather than self.
Additionally, thinking on this term, I am sadden by the number of Christians, and especially young people that have been caught up in this pattern of functional atheism. They believe in God, hold loosely to some moral principles, but I have seen them develop habits of quickly setting aside anything religious if it becomes an inconvenience to them whether that be time with the church body, study of God’s Word with a few dear friends, moral principles, etc. And while I may be quick to condemn them, I wonder in part what example was set for them. Israel’s times of moral and spiritual failure was often preceded by parental & leadership failure. Those that bore and led them were idle in their responsibilities to teach them about God and pass on the things of God.
So, how will we live? That’s the question we must answer individually. As functional atheists or as people who’ve been chosen by God, redeemed, called ambassadors, given a mission, and secure in His grasp?
We have been given freedom to live lives no longer under the power of sin and the consequences that it brings (Rom 6:14). We have been shown great love, so let us respond in great love as well by obeying the commands and desires of the who gave Himself for us (1 Jn 5:2-3). We have been called to be ambassadors and lights pointing people to the gospel of Christ (2 Cor 5:20; Matt 5). And thinking on that, I pray that our lives are every moment of every day gospel oriented. That we are living in light of the new position we have in Christ. That we are encouraging others to do the same and at times admonishing them to do so. And I pray that we are so impassioned by it that we speak of this hope unreservedly.
As you think about your own walk with God and the things said here, you might also do the following:
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. Pray also that God would grace you with the wisdom and strength to avoid measuring the size and nearness of God by assessing your circumstances. Your interpretation of God will never be either accurate or stable if you’ve arrived at it by trying to figure out what he is doing in the situations in your life. When your 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 functional atheism.
Paul David Tripp