[My friend]…concluded, \u201cWhen it comes down to it, I\u2019m a practical atheist. I\u2019ve learned to live most of my life as if God is a nice add-on\u2014when I have time and when I really want him\u2014but otherwise I\u2019m content with living as if he is not a living presence.\u201d<\/p>\n
As I noted in the introduction, I deeply identify with my friend\u2019s dilemma. (That phrase \u201cpractical atheist\u201d is from Anthony Bloom\u2019s Beginning to Pray). In talking with many friends, I\u2019d say we\u2019re not alone. So it\u2019s not quite true that we\u2019ve completely forgotten God. But our spiritual Alzheimer\u2019s has progressed to dangerous levels.<\/p>\n
To let grace have a word: This is a common human condition and certainly no surprise to God, who is still willing to work with us despite our attempts to use him for our ends. It is not remarkably evil that we are so distracted by life and responsibilities and earthly desires that God takes a decided back seat. We needn\u2019t whip ourselves with guilt and shame over this. This essay in particular and this series is intended not as wholesale condemnation but as a wake-up call, or at least the start of a larger conversation.<\/p>\n
I think it is incumbent on evangelical Christians to take this with special seriousness. We have rightly prided ourselves in practicing a form of faith that emphasizes the personal relationship with Jesus one can enjoy. And among us are many who can be characterized in just this way. But overall I believe our movement has degenerated in ways I have described above, with the vast majority of us falling into patterns that emphasize the horizontal at the expense of the vertical.<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n When mission becomes the center, the focal point of the Christian life, life will inevitably degenerate into an active and busy religious life void of God https:\/\/t.co\/w6ttpcEIBV<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) May 29, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n