Brian's Blog

If there is one topic that, by preaching it, any preacher could easily bring immense guilt upon a congregation, it would be the topic of prayer. Do we pray enough? Do we pray with freshness? Do we pray with passion? And after answering “no” three times you begin your trek up the aisle at the end of the service to dedicate yourself again to faithful prayer.

I often chalked up the lack of prayer in a believer’s life to that of laziness. However, I think Groeschel is probably more on target when he believes it is more a lack of believing that prayer truly works.

One of the greatest challenges I face with prayer is that of just speaking genuinely from my heart to God. There are so many phrases I have used for many years that automatically pop out with absolutely no meaning behind them – ie. “Dear God, thank you for this day” or how about this one – “Bless this food to our bodies” – oh, how original! God must get so bored with our meaningless verbage. Crazy how I can talk to God and seldom engage my brain. I often think how my wife, Lisa, would feel if I quoted the same identical phrase in every conversation I had with her. I’m sure it wouldn’t be too long before she questioned my sincerity through it.

Well, how sincere are our prayers? Are we honest with God when we pray? (It doesn’t make much sense to not tell the truth since He can see through it anyway.) Do we try to stay away from brainless ruts in prayer?

I’ll make a deal with you – let’s both ask ourselves one question throughout our prayers – “Did I really mean that?” After every main thought we express we can ask that simple question which, hopefully, will evaluate our sincerity in what we say to the God of the universe. Try it out and let me know what how it goes!

How many people have we loved or been loved by only to find out that love is now gone? My wife knows of my “little black book” of all the girls I had dated – none of which now gain any of my attention or affection – “I’ve lost that lovin’ feeling!” in fact, I only know where one of them is today since she is a missionary that we support (I’m not telling who though). My best friend growing up – I don’t know where he lives, who he’s married to or how many kids he has. I have sat in the same room with many couples who either pronounce love because they want to get married, or denounce love, because of their frustration and hurt.

Thankfully, God doesn’t love us in the same way that we love people or that others love us. Personally, I know this concept and I accept it, but I don’t know if I can truly comprehend it for all it is. I can grab the thought “that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from th love of God, that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” I can see God’s love fighting off demons or traveling the distance to reach me, but what I struggle accepting is the fact that God would love me even though I have done such terrible things against Him. Would I love someone that cursed at me, disrespected and disobeyed me. Would I love someone who has more love for self than for me? And that’s when I get seeing the difference between my love and God’s love. I do love but God is love! Even when I was at my worst, God was true to His character and unconditionally showed His love by giving His all for my rescue. Now that’s love we can believe in and embrace!

Sometimes I feel like I am in a carnival, standing in front of one of those curved mirrors that distort the way I look. You know, the mirror that would take my 6 ft. frame and make me look about 4 ft. tall. How easy it is to look at ourselves, as Groeschel stated in chapter 2, through the lens of our past. Some people continue to identify themselves by sins they have done in the past. So how would that make them a “Christian Atheist?”

Take a moment and read 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and you’ll see how identifying ourselves by our past mistakes causes us to live as though God doesn’t exist. After naming a bunch of sins that the people used to do, he concludes by saying – “And that is what some of you WERE, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” Paul goes on to show that they are no longer what they were because of Christ and His sacrificial death for them. So, TO IDENTIFY OURSELVES WITH OUR PAST SINS IGNORES ALL JESUS HAS DONE FOR US, even if we believe He exists. No longer an immoral, a drunk, a thief, a gossip – now we are washed, made righteous before God and God sees us as though we have never sinned (justified). To avoid being a Christian Atheist, we must start looking at ourselves the way God looks at us!

So, do you see yourself like God sees you or are you standing in front of the carnival mirror? All the things of the past that we regret are gone if we believe in what Jesus did for us on the cross.

I got thinking about the “It’s all in the name” section of chapter 1. Craig went through the different names people call him, and how those different names signify different levels of relationship. I’ve had my share of names from the past – I don’t think it’s wise post them all on the internet right now, but I do see how these different names give me an idea of the relationship I have or have had with these people.

Back in college, I remember hearing a guy pray and he started by addressing God as “Daddy.” That struck me very oddly. Why not “Father?” Why did he have to say “Daddy?” Is it right to call God “Dad” or “Daddy?” Is it disrespectful? Is it unbiblical? Are there any biblical instances where the word “Dad” or “Daddy” is used of God?

On these hot days, there’s a trigger pulled inside of me that just craves ice cream. If it’s going to Dusty’s (the old Mr. Twister) on rt. 12, typically it’s “bubblegum” flavor that will satisfy that inner urge. speaking of urges, Craig makes a great point about craving or longing for God in chapter 1 – it’s about knowing God intimately (p. 38-40). He asks the question, “Have you ever felt that kind of love for someone? When you’re apart, you can’t wait to be with them again. When I’m away from (my wife), I can’t wait to hear her voice again. Imagine that with God.”

So imagine those inward cravings for God. Truly sensing inside that I want to be with Him, talk to Him, think about Him, learn about Him, sing to Him, tell about Him. David, the psalmist, sensed that when he wrote, “Earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” What word pictures! When the heat is overbearing and you have worked so hard, the inward urge for something to cool you off (ice cream!!) is so intense – that’s the way the Psalmist felt about God. No wonder he was called a man after God’s own heart. David was far from being a Christian Atheist.

This longing for God is a good indicator that we are getting to know God not just know about Him. And that special relationship with God is a distinguishing feature of those who are living an authentic life with God. As Groeshel puts it, “As you get to know Him better, you will change. A vibrant and intimate relationship with God will empower you to heal from the hurts from your past, forgive what seems unforgivable, and change what seems unchangeable about yourself.”

A genuine relationship with God, longing for Him and craving Him is the best medicine for a Christian Atheist.

Hi all. Glad you are connecting with me online to walk through “The Christian Atheist” together. You may be wondering which chapters we read and on what days we are supposed to read. Well, this book project is not to be as choreographed as synchronized swimming. I’ll probably do 2-3 chapters a week and make comments through them as I go along. You may read faster than me – that’s fine, just don’t forget what you read and be sure to comment on your findings and insight as you see fit. There’s a little atheism in all of us – it’s also called hypocrisy. It would be nice, at the end of the book, to see it for what it is and allow all of our lives to be affected by this belief we say we hold. Buckle up and hang on for a great ride through this book.