Over time, however, I noticed an interesting phenomenon. Most of the people that I talked with in my neighborhood, at my kid’s ball games and through the natural course of life regarded themselves as Christians. Very few professed to be atheists, or even to have serious doubts about the existence of God. Everyone seemed to believe in God, yet few of them attended church or spent much time seeking Him.

They lived  in recognition that there was a God, yet saw no connection between that belief and how they went about their daily affairs. They never considered or factored God into their key decisions, or patterned their lives after His values. Consequently, they believed in God but behaved as if He didn’t exist. We came to call this idea Practical Atheism.

Practical Atheism is a dichotomy, a split between what we say and what we do. Practical Atheism explains the chasm between what many people say they believe and how they live out their lives. Statistics about our culture bear this out:

Many of us believe God exists

- Almost 9 out of 10 (88%) Americans claim to believe in God (Gallup, 2007)

- More than 3 out of 4 Americans (77%) claim to be Christian (Gallup, 2009)

Yet few of us live like God exists

- Less than 1 in 10 (9%) of people hold to a basic Christian worldview, including a Biblical understanding of Jesus, Satan, salvation and heaven (Gallup, 2009)

- Slightly more than one out of ten people (13%) attend a Bible-believing church on a regular basis (ARDA, US Census 2009)

While these are only two key indicators, they point to a very real disconnect between our nation’s beliefs and its behaviors. I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that Practical Atheism has become the dominant form of Christianity in America. What’s more is that it has impaired our ability to encounter God, to experience life change and to engage in the calling He has for our lives. Although the American Church is the most educated, resourced, and prominent Church in history, the phenomena of Practical Atheism has inoculated us against a deeper, more vibrant expression of our faith.

Many Christians speak of feeling disconnected from God and discouraged with life because they have come to believe that it isn’t possible to genuinely experience God. Is Practical Atheism something you’ve seen at work in your own life? If so, what have you done to overcome it?

Many of us have tried to fill that need in ways that have not helped. We’ve dated or even married people who haven’t really treated us well. We fell in with friends who didn’t take us in the right direction or we filled our lives with shallow relationships that never really met our needs. It’s actually possible to be surrounded by people and still feel loneliness. I’ve had relationships with people for years but don’t feel like I really know them or they me. Relational satisfaction isn’t based solely on how many people we have in our life but also on how well we know them and feel known by them.

The quality of our relationships is as important as the quantity of our relationships. Some of us naturally gravitate to having just a few very close relationships; others to having lots of relationships that vary in depth. Whether we have many or few, the real question is whether those relationships help you to feel connected to others in a deep, lasting and meaningful way.

God’s plan to help us overcome loneliness is two-fold. First, He wants us to have significant relationships with both our natural family and our church family. This is why small groups are so important. To be able to connect to people who love and follow God is one of the most supportive and helpful things we can ever do. Small groups help us as individuals, but they help our marriages and families to thrive as well.

But there is a second part of God’s plan – He wants us to regularly connect with Him in a meaningful way. In fact, He created us in such a way that a part of our soul can only feel content when we are connected deeply in a relationship with Him. In  other words, we have a God-shaped vacuum in our hearts that can only He can fill.

We are the most complete when we connect with God at the center of our lives and with others who love God and love us at deep levels. This is God’s plan for us relationally.

How are you doing relationally? Do you feel relationally full or empty? What is a next step for you to take relationally with God?

Most of us are insanely busy and lead very full lives. We work hard, spend time with our kids, go to church, Facebook our small group, cut the grass and oh yes, have a moment in the day to actually relax. All that activity can lead us to sometimes feel like a gerbil on a wheel running as fast as we can, but going nowhere. Strange, isn’t it? Sometimes the busier I am, the more I wonder about my impact.
Most of us find out that life can happen all on its own. It moves on day after day like a huge river waiting for no one. Our lives flow along with it, moved by its currents. To change course takes intentionality, energy, and perseverance. In other words, it’s really hard; that’s why most of us don’t make many changes, or at least big ones.

We grow up, we get a job that leads to other jobs, a house that leads to other houses and we get married, which usually leads to kids. By then, who has time to think about life? It’s simply moving too fast. Change at that point is hard, because we have made so many commitments and have accumulated so many things that need to be maintained. Everything seems tied together, dependent on one another. We fear that if one block is pulled out, everything else could come crashing down. In those moments, life can seem like a long game of Jenga. In those instances, it can feel like life is happening around us or even to us. We can feel trapped, fenced in or pinned down.

It is then that we usually wonder where it’s all going. Does my life have meaning? Does what I do really matter?

These are the times we decide to change course, to get in shape, by a sports car, start a business, have an affair, relocate to a new city or immerse ourselves in new diversions and hobbies. The problem is we usually find that these changes don’t really change much of anything, at least in a good and lasting sense. At best, they rearrange the elements of our life in a different order that’s more fun for a while – until it starts to feel like everything else. At worst, we grab at things that promise more than they deliver and shipwreck our lives. In those seasons we find out that there are far worse things than being bored.

God gives us a different choice. He gives us the opportunity to partner with Him in building His kingdom on earth. This sounds far-fetched at first, but when we stop to realize that God made us in a particular way, with gifts and skills and talents to use, we understand our potential to build an eternal legacy with Him.

The highest and most noble use of our lives is serving God. It is the only way our life can have eternal significance. The Bible tells us that at the end of our life, we will stand before God to give an account of all that we have done. On that day, two questions will be central. “What is your relationship with my Son?”, and “What did you do with the life I gave you?” Our first answer determines where we spend eternity. Our second answers affect our experience of eternity. While, I don’t know everything that means, Scripture is pretty clear that God rewards these who are faithful to Him. All of our accomplishments that don’t have eternal significance will pass away (1 Corinthians 3.11-15). On that day, the positions we’ve had, the money we’ve earned, the accolades we’ve accumulated – all of them will become meaningless. On that day, all that will matter is our relationship with Jesus and the things we’ve done to serve God.

How can we do that? Does it mean we all have to start churches or become missionaries to Africa? Probably not, but what it does mean is that we should take a look at how God has made us and figure out how to serve Him with our life. Some of us are very relationally-skilled, others are skilled with their hands, others have talents in leadership and technology. Whatever your gifts are – put them to work for God, help Him build His kingdom on earth.

I think one of the greatest hindrances – particularly for men – is the fear of boredom in church work. They imagine it to be the tedious planning of activities, endless prayer meetings, and hours spent with challenging, difficult people. The truth is, serving God is the greatest adventure there is. It demands boldness, wisdom and courage. It is an opportunity to leverage who you are to make a real difference in people’s life for eternity. How cool is that!

How are you making the most of your life? What are some of the most impacting ways that you have served God? What is your biggest fear associated with serving God?

Issues like that get to the heart of one of the most profound of human needs – safety. One of the things every person wants to know from the earliest moments of life is, “Will I be safe?” This is one of the basic needs of infants. They want to know in the vastness of their new world that someone nearby loves them and will help them when they are hungry or sick. In some ways, not a lot changes throughout life. As kids, we learn that bad things can happen to us  when we’re not careful, and sometimes when we are. As adults, we learn to do everything possible to create a safe environment for our families.

We eat healthy and exercise regularly. We try to live in safe neighborhoods and build good schools. We buy car seats, alarm systems and insurance plans. We protect ourselves with fire departments, police and the military. We save money for a rainy day. We do everything we can to be as safe as possible. And we should, because we live in a fallen, dangerous world where evil and calamity exist. Yet none of these things can really ever guarantee our safety. Where is God in this?

In  moments like this, I think it is always helpful to remember that God didn’t create the world to be this way. He made it perfect and good, a place devoid of suffering, strife or death. We actually are to blame for the entrance of evil into our world. The Bible tells us that it was when humans rebelled against God and abandoned Him as their spiritual father that things went awry. Our revolt against God created a rift, a chasm, between us and Him. As a result of that separation, evil, suffering and death became a part of our lives.

God could have chosen to distance Himself from us and ignore our pain, but He didn’t. He still loved us – even when we didn’t love Him. This is why Jesus came. He entered our world as one of us – God in human form; to die in our place and build a way back to God. For those who accept Him and His way, God promises to give us what we were created for; a place of peace and safety, a place of comfort and joy – His eternal Kingdom.

Jesus told us that we can begin to experience aspects of that Kingdom while we are still living in a fallen world. Yet, we will never experience it fully until He returns to set the world right (Revelation 21.1-4). This is our dilemma – we are created for a perfect, sinless place but we live in the fallenness of of our own making. God will make all things perfect again, but not yet.

The Bible says that we should expect that God will both deliver us in times of trouble (Psalm 34.17) and use the pain and suffering in our lives to help us change and grow (Romans 8 ). I don’t know about you, but I like the first part of that plan a lot better than the second part. But I have to admit that I have grown as much from adversity as I have from abundance.

The truth is God sees things from an eternal perspective. He realizes we will live forever and that this world is but a brief moment in that eternity. His promise of safety to us is the safety that comes from an eternal life with Him in His Kingdom. This is a miraculous certainty in the midst of the uncertain chaos of life. Beyond that, God helps those whose hearts are completely His (2 Chronicles 16.9). He heals, He delivers, He guides, He loves, He supports and He blesses. Yet, He never completely removes the influences and consequences of sin from our lives. These we must continue to endure as a reminder of our waywardness and need. God’s promise to us in this life is not to drape us in spiritual bubble wrap so nothing bad can penetrate our life, but to be there with us no matter what (Matthew 28.20). Sometimes His presence brings deliverance from evil, sometimes it brings comfort in the midst of evil.

At the end of the day, all the insurance policies, alarm systems, armies and healthy living cannot compare to God’s offer of eternal life and companionship on earth. True safety can only be found in God.

What do you fear? What fears do you struggle to commit to God?

Inequity causes fear; specifically, the fear of scarcity. Either because we start with little and and fear being forever defined by poverty or because we start with much and fear losing our privilege. Either way, we fear scarcity and wonder, “Will I have enough? Will I have what I need to live? Will I have enough to be comfortable? Will I have enough to truly satisfy me?” These fears stoke a competitive fire in all of us.

We learn early to outsmart, outwork and out-hustle enough people around us to get what we want. We think of life as a competition for scarce resources. The idea is that there isn’t enough for all of us, so we need to be sure we get ours first. Often, this need is at odds with our belief in a benevolent and all-powerful God. We intellectually believe that God is there – that He loves us, that He answers our prayers. But emotionally, we struggle to have faith that He will be there for us when we need Him. Can we really count on Him to take care of us? Can we actually rely on Him to provide for us? The notion of order in a world of seeming chaos, of love in a planet defined by self-interest and of trust in a place so fueled with disappointment seems emotionally fragile to us. It seems to good to be true; and we’ve learned that things too good to be true usually are.

We usually try to solve this dilemma by living a duality. We profess our belief in God and allow part of our heart to trust Him but still pursue our life as if He isn’t there – just to be sure we have enough by our own hand. I think this is the reason the vast majority of Christians don’t tithe (give the first 10% of their earnings to God). It isn’t out of a sense of greed, but out of a fear of scarcity. We think, “If I give 10% of my money to God, I won’t have enough left to get all I want.” This why the decision to tithe is so important. Not for the money, rather because it is a tangible act of faith that declares to ourselves that we have to trust God to provide for us. Think about it – God doesn’t need our money – He wants us to have faith in Him, in every area of our lives. He realizes that if we don’t trust Him with what we do see, including our finances, how will we ever trust Him for things we can’t see – like eternal life? That is why the words of Jesus are so impacting – because He speaks to the center of our need:

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6.31-33

God knows we are anxious, even frightened, about the potential of scarcity. Will we have enough? Enough clothes, enough food – enough of everything we need and want? Yet, He reminds us that this is how people who don’t believe in God behave. He corrects us without shaming us. He helps us to realize that people who truly put their faith in a real God have no need to fear scarcity. He reminds us that our job is to fully give ourselves to God. To no longer live for ourselves, but to live for Him (seeking His Kingdom and His righteousness). When we do that, we will not only receive what we seek but also everything we need to live for Him on earth.

This is so simple. There really is a God, He wants us to faithfully serve Him with our lives. When we do, He will take care of us because He knows what we need and He loves us. Yet, at the same time, it is so hard to overcome our doubt. What if God is not real? What if God doesn’t come through? What if God gives me less than I would give myself? Maybe this is why God chose faith as the prime test for humanity – because it’s the best indicator of where our heart really is. It is easy to intellectually believe in God – even the devil does that (James 2.19), but it is far harder to have true faith – to place our lives in God’s hands and rely on Him to overcome our present crisis of scarcity and our future crisis of death. Intellectual belief risks nothing. True Christian faith risks everything.

Here are a few questions I’ve used to really help me process this issue in my own life:

1. What would it look like in your life to trust God to povide for you?

2. What are you willing to risk on God?

3. Are you at a place where you can trust Him to provide for you?

4. Could you be content with whatever God provides?

5. What’s the next step?