“And Jesus answering said, Were There not (10) ten cleansed [of leperosy]? but, where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.”                                                                                                                                                (Luke 17)

“…[W[hen they knew God, they glorified [H]im not as God, neither were they thankful; but became vain in their imaginations [plural], and their foolish heart [Singular] was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools…” (Romans 1)

 

“For men shall be lovers of their own selves, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy…”  (2 Timothy 3)

 

Our texts above confronts atheists with their vain imaginations, which are vain and personal. The text also confronts the atheists with their imaginations and their, grammatically singular, heart was darkened. Unbelievers may have their own private mind’s eye but their darkened heart is singular, communal, shared and hardened toward God. The atheist and atheistic world thinks or likes to pretend that we are the strange, we who give Glory to God, just like the one stranger healed of leprosy. We are not strange, nor are we outnumbered; we are the new Creation of God in Christ and we are much thankful….we are the thankful.

Before we proceed, allow me to define the atheist; The Athiest knows that God is but pretends that God is not. Romans (chap. 1) chapter one spells that out by saying, man is without excuse for his prideful, and purposeful ignoring of God; the current state of events in this world is the Judgement of God upon man for his blatant and rebellious existence.

The definition for atheist will also (for the purpose of this article) include persons that believe in some god or another or in a high power or speak of the universe as having a will and purpose for all people. Those persons who are not saved, but profess their belief in their idea or conception of God or those who profess that they are “spiritual” will also be included or considered as atheist. If we want to be very anylitical, technical, and truthful, even true believers can be considered atheistic if or when they do not give glory to God and offer up a sacrifice from  their lips; a sacrifice from their lips acknowledging their thankfulness to God. The unthoughtful and unthankful believer, (who does not offer up thanks to God for all that God is, for all that God has been, for all that God has done, for all that God is doing, and because of His great and overflowing wealth of grace, mercy, and love will continue to do) can be considered as being atheistic in their practice, as well.

A vacuum, by definition, is a space entirely devoid of matter. Synonyms for vacuum include, emptiness, void, nothingness, vacancy, absence, and black hole.

On November 23rd, God willing and Allowing,  persons will be speaking of their thankfulness. They will say they are thankful for family, friends, health,  their career, their this and their that, but to whom are they thankful? Persons will say, ” I’m thankful for X,” and into the vaccum it shall go.

This may sound elementary, but when one has something to say to God, one must direct words and thoughts to God. We need not do anything to atract God’s attention, He is always Present and Aware when one has an offering of praise, of acknowledegment, of thanksgiving. One should knowingly and cognitively direct their attention to God, Who is graciously inclined to hear your cares, concerns, requests, petitions, confessions, acknowkedgements, praises, thanks-givings, and sacrifices of worship.

Why does Scripure, in Hebrews 13, call the Christ-ians’s praise and thanksgiving the sacrifice and fruit of our lips? Do you ever feel like you are sacrificing something by thanking and praising God? The answer is probably in the negative. So then, why does the inspired Scriptures; the Word of God, call our praise and thanks a sacrifice? One might think it is to cause us to remember the sacrificial system from the Old Testament, which of course, points to Christ and His great Sacrifice for His own. Those thoughts and considerations are right, good and certainly worthy to be remembered and meditated upon however, methinks the Spirit of God means something else.

Why or when would praise and thanksgiving be a sacrifice? When all is well and fine it is easy to be thankful to God for all His givings. It is also easy to forget to be thankful and to remember our need (and hopefully our great desire for God; the desire to dwell in His Presence) for God when all is seemingly well. The sacrifice and fruit of our lips become important, and are well received by God, when all is not well and when there appears nothing to be thankful for, when there seems to be much to complain about, when we are walking by sight, or when we begin to grow faint.

This is the time and the opportunity to refuse to doubt God, to faint before God, to be angry with God, to lose faith in God, and to refuse to be comforted by God; these acts of faith, these acts from faith are the sacrifices of praise, the sacrifices of thanks to God, and the fruits of our lips offered up to God, to Jehovah Jireh (The LORD Who provides).

While the professing, and pretending atheists and those who, in practice, are atheistic are spewing pretenses into the air, let us be certain to thank our Great and Glorious God, for this is His will for those in Christ.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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