This morning, as I sat and prayed, an old song came bubbling up out of my spirit:
When I think about the Lord, how He saved me, how He raised me, how He filled me up with the Holy Ghost,
How He healed me to the uttermost
When I think about the Lord, how He lifted me up and turned me around, how He set my feet on solid ground,
It makes me wanna shout ‘Hallelujah!’ ‘Thank You Jesus!’
Lord, You’re worthy of all of the glory and all of the honor and all of the praise!
The lyrics blessed me as I meditated on their truths. But because I’m not a singer, and was a little off on melody (and pitch), I decided I would enjoy it more if I downloaded it on iTunes and sang along with the real band and singers.
And that brings me to what I want to share with you today…
Because I couldn’t remember the exact name of the song, I typed in several suggestions, including ‘Thank You Jesus.” And that’s when I saw it. Not the song, but a podcast entitled: “Thank God, I’m an Atheist.”
Here I am thanking Jesus for the marvelous turnaround He’s made in my life, and this person is thanking God for being god-less.
That’s what the word Atheist means: without God.
Ephesians 2:12 reminds us that before Christ (before we received salvation through faith in Jesus), we were “strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.”
In our English language, “without God” is two words; but in the original Greek language, it is one word: atheos. It’s where we get the word Atheist, literally meaning, without God.
Even as I sit here and think about it, my heart is so saddened that someone would be so ignorant as to: 1) make fun of God, and 2) rejoice at being godless.
The New Testament Dictionary defines atheos as a person who was forgetful of God, or one who did not care about the existence of God and consequently did not honor Him. Interestingly, this word is only found once in the New Testament (in Ephesians 2:12). But it goes on to say: “The phrase ‘without God’ doesn’t really convey the full meaning. It means more than not knowing God, it means neglectful of God.”
I’m not an Atheist of course, but this definition brings a new awareness of how God describes one who is neglectful of Him.
Have I ever been careless in my faith? Yes.
Have I ever been negligent of prayer or time with God in His Word? Yes.
Have I ever been thoughtless to His promptings, caring more about my immediate needs? Yes.
These all describe one who is neglectful of God. And only one word describes such behavior— atheos: without God.
Thankfully, despite our shortcomings, we are never without the Holy Spirit. He is the coach and cheerleader who teaches us all things and brings back to our remembrance the things we have learned (John 14:26). With His help, I am reminded of how God saved me and raised me up; how He picked me up and turned me around; how He set me feet on solid ground.
As Christians, we are never really without God, but we are guilty at times of being neglectful.
I don’t want to be careless or negligent in my relationship with the One who saved me. And I sure don’t want anything associated with being atheos (or godless)! No, I want, and need, God in my life. And I want others who maybe don’t claim to be Atheist, but are nonetheless without God in this world (and therefore without hope) see Him in me and want what I have found.
My prayer today is that our attention would be on Him and that we’d be reminded of how easy it is to be negligent.
