Functional Atheism
Functional Atheism
The Peril of Living by Sight
No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. — Psalm 33:16-19
There is a scene that appears in many movies. Heroes are on an adventure and they must pass through an enchanted space — a forest, a castle, some room, etc; before they enter an experienced guide solemnly warns them: “Don’t trust what you see in there; listen to my voice and do what I say.”
We all know what will happen. One of them will be lured away by a beautiful woman, promised treasure, or a loved one they believed to be dead but is magically present, beckoning them like a siren to their destruction. The overwhelming evidence presented to their natural senses overpowers the warning of their faithful guide.
In reality, that kind of deception is not relegated to enchanted spaces; rather, it’s part of our everyday experiences. Our world invites us to trust explicitly in our senses, regarding them as the things that reveal what is most dependable and worthy of our trust. In other words, we’re invited to walk by sight, not by faith.
Accepting this invitation makes what my New Testament professor called “functional atheists” of us. A functional atheist professes the right things, but when it comes to how they live their life, they live as if there is no God to depend on. They believe in God but trust themselves.
It is easy to do. It is easy for the king to think he is secure because his army is vast, easy for the strong man to believe he’ll escape because of his strength, and easy for the horse rider to think they are safe because their horse is strong and fast. Likewise, it is easy for us to think we stand secure because our financial advisor tells us we have enough for retirement; it’s easy for us to think we’ve succeeded when our kids get into the right school, and so on.
Conversely, the reverse of those things is also true. It’s easy to assume one’s life is a shambles when there’s not enough for retirement, when the kids didn’t get accepted into that college, when the army is small, and the horses are gaunt. Either way brings a sense of security or insecurity through the senses.
If we would not only feel secure but actually be secure, we must look to him who is invisible. The psalmist said, “[T]he eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.”
God is looking to deliver those who are looking to him for deliverance. It is a great illusion to believe that what we see can deliver us because those things also depend on God; he holds them together by his word. Why not put your trust in the one who holds everything else together? Why not hope in God?
Hope is no mere wish, it’s no leap of faith; rather, it is confident action based on the dependability of God.
My dad taught me a lot about hope, faith, and trusting in the invisible God. This week, May 15th, would’ve been his 67th birthday. If you visit his burial site, you will find “Psalm 20:7” etched in the gravestone. It reads, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.”
Heavenly Father, you are always with us, closer than the very air we breathe. Yet we are tempted to live as if you are far away, or even non-existent. Forgive us. Teach us to seek you out when we’re tempted to walk by sight. By your Spirit, increase our faith, that we might establish our lives on the unshakeable foundation that is your name. For Jesus’ sake, and our salvation, we ask this. Amen.
I have a real problem with waiting. This post made me think of a quote I keep among my reminders - I don’t know to whom it is attributed but it’s always a good reminder for me. “Biblically speaking ‘to wait’ is to manifest the kind of trust that is willing to commit itself to God over the long haul. It is to continue to believe and expect when all others have given up. It is to believe that it is better for something to happen in God’s time than for it to happen on my initiative in my time”. Thank you for the reminder.
Do we look at religion through the eyes of society or society through the eyes of religion, as one insightful commentator framed the key issue of living in a post-Christian society