Play doesn’t seem like something we should take seriously as Christians. Even if we want to play, so many of us don’t - I think Tim Hansel said it so well in the title of his book for Christians, When I Relax I Feel Guilty. So we keep plugging away at the to-do lists and timers. We’re supposed to be productive. Useful. Purposeful. Which is all well and good…to an extent. But what if Scripture is inviting us into even more?

Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living as if God Doesn't Exist

Play doesn’t seem like something we should take seriously as Christians. Even if we want to play, so many of us don’t - I think Tim Hansel said it so well in the title of his book for Christians, When I Relax I Feel Guilty. So we keep plugging away at the to-do lists and timers. We’re supposed to be productive. Useful. Purposeful. Which is all well and good…to an extent. But what if Scripture is inviting us into even more?

We’re in a series called the Christian Atheist, and we’re considering today the Christian who doesn’t show change. Progress from their former life outside of Christ, and outside the church. This is the Christian in stalemate. On one hand it seems clear that this Christian has been claimed; won over by Christ. They declare it in word. They go to church. They mind plenty of the manners of the Christian life. But in one way or another the patterns of the world still live unchallenged in pockets of their lives.

Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living as if God Doesn't Exist

So many of us, we know about God. But what we really want is to know God. Because so many of us claim to follow Christ, but the way our inner lives are, you might never know it. And this morning, we’re going to explore that foundational question - what does it look like to know God instead of just knowing about God?

So much of my life, I spend comfortable with being comfortable. I mean, I feel like I’m a pretty good person. I’ll call my dad today on Father’s Day, I do date nights with my husband, I tithe and I volunteer and I make meals for friends when they have babies. But when it comes down to it, I’m pretty comfortable with being comfortable. I look around at the way the world is, the brokenness and the sin and the shame, and I know God has and is doing something about it. But I’m pretty sure, so much of the time, that God is doing something about it through someone else. Sure, I know that Christians are supposed to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and set the captives free in our world (Mt. 5:25). And I try to do that from time to time, for sure…as I have time. But I can come up quickly with a long list of reasons why God isn’t calling me to do anything all that crazy.

Whole Self In: Loving God with All Our Hearts, Souls, Minds & Strength

Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living as if God Doesn't Exist

In Deuteronomy 6:5, the sense we are left with is this: It is with our very selves that we are to love God. All that we have at our disposal: our power, our emotional health, our relational influence, our physical strength - all of it - our VERY SELVES - can be oriented in love toward God and toward our neighbor. Opportunities to love God and others with our strength come around everyday, but we are not always ready to to be faithful when they do. We are not ready, because we too often waste our strength on selfish things instead of on loving God and our neighbor in these ways. Believe me, I know.