a bread maker,...i..i..i love it!

Alright....this won't be easy. But I have a confession to make. I was listening to a speaker this past October and because of his message, I am slowly realizing that I have become what some would call a Practical Atheist.

A Practical Atheist is someone who believes God exists... but lives as if he does not. Now before you sound off the alarms and call up Benny Hinn to make my body hit the floor, hear me out. I have a relationship with Jesus Christ. I believe my life was transformed by His saving grace and I will follow Him till my last breath. BUT...and I mean a big BUT. A junk-in-the-trunk BUT. I am starting to notice little areas of my life where it reflects a lack of trust in God. And I know I'm not the only one. I look around and I sense the common struggle. I know I'm not alone in this. It's like it says in Isaiah 9:13 "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." Are you giving God just some lip service? You know what lip service is.... it's telling someone what they want to hear even if it's not what you believe in your heart. It's fake. It has no depth. It's like when your grandma gives you an ugly nick-knack...and when you open it up your face looks like you got a new Macbook but on the inside everything in you is screaming "what the H-E- double hockey sticks" And of course, it only wonders out of the storage closet when she comes over to visit!

That's what we do.....we give God our lip service. And we've become pretty good at it. But God knows the heart, He created it. God knows when we care more about pleasing people rather than pleasing Him. He knows when we believe our effort is greater than His power. We make feeble attempts to lead others to Christ, but we don't let Christ lead us. We just act like he's in charge until it comes to making a big decision. And here's the best part... we rely on ourselves and then when things go wrong, we blame it on Him! I mean, it's the best of both worlds...we make God think he's in control...but really we are, and when we mess up... we don't have to take any blame for it...because we convinced God that He was in control. God's stuck with the bill wondering how He messed up again! Practical Atheism. Believing God exists, but live life as if He does not.

It sounds silly... but this kind of character confusion goes on everyday. We do it all the time. Jeremiah 1:5 says, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. Before you were born I SET YOU APART: I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." Let's be honest...we aren't kidding anybody. Before you were created God knew you! Do you really think He doesn't still know you? Not only that but He has set you apart! What does it mean in your circumstances right now to be set apart? Maybe it means we start living like we know God exists. Maybe it means we start believing that God's power is greater than our effort. Maybe it means you start over and try it again. Do you live like you know that God has set you apart and created you to do something big... or are you a Practical Atheist?