An Atheist and A Flood by Clint

I have no business immersing myself in the world of Psychology. I know little to nothing about the field; however, I was a psych major at Baylor, so I do feel entitled enough to read Psychology Today magazine occasionally. Some of it’s outside my interest –or maybe just over my head- but a lot of it is really fascinating. In the recent issue there was an article entitled, “Atheist in the Pulpit.” Naturally, being in ministry, I grabbed the magazine and flipped right to the article, very curious as to what the article would say. As I read, I found the account of a minister who had been struggling with his belief as he continued to preach, pastor, and comfort people in the hospital. He finally got to the point where he renounced his faith, and now he is in “recovery” from religion. In reading his words, his loss of faith was a slow process. I could tell that it began with his loss of touch with God. You’re probably saying, “Good work Sherlock. Of course that how loss of faith begins!” But I couldn’t stop thinking about how the former minister talked of the way that this loss of faith crept up on him. He was even still preaching every Sunday after he had personally renounced his faith. He expressed that all of this happened over an extended time, though, and it started with his loss of passion in relation to God. It is easy to fall into the trap of going through all the motions with the programmed form of a robot. It’s like muscle memory: I had a baseball coach tell me that if you do the same thing 20 times, 20 times a day for 20 days, your muscles will store that action and you can do it without even thinking about it. And going through that form may look good, and you may think you’ve got it down pat. In worship, however, getting into a pattern of always just going through the motions isn’t good enough for God. God wants spontaneity. God wants heart. God wants true passion and loyalty. Think about it in terms of relationship- if you did something nice or seemingly heartfelt for your significant other, and they asked, “What is this for!?” How would it go over if you replied, “We are in a relationship. I am supposed to do little things to make it seem like I care. I got this idea from a commercial.” That would probably land you back into the dating world, and with that level of sensitivity, good luck! But being perfectly honest, how easy is it to pass off our relationship with God by going through motions.

Back to the preaching Atheist- he lost touch, and he started going through the motions. A relationship just cannot survive without the true heart behind it, especially a relationship with God who is pure love. So, when God tells the Israelites that he is sick of their burnt offerings (Hos. 6:6), he is telling them that the robotic stuff just isn’t working. In Genesis, Noah makes an offering to God after the flood, and the aroma is pleasing to God. After landing on dry ground after all the trauma and devastation, I’m sure Noah’s offering was passionate and honest. The flood account has been on my mind lately because I feel like there is trauma and devastation all around us now in 2008. It is difficult to read the paper or watch the news. Few things are more chaotic and uncontrollable than a flood. Things seem pretty messy and uncontainable right now, kind of like a flood. In all that, don’t become jaded. Don’t become a worship robot just going through the motions. Show God Hesed- covenant loyalty. Show the people around you Hesed- mercy. Amongst the floods in your life, let your offering to God be fragrant.