Psalm 14:1-3: Not A Pretty Picture

When NASA sends us pictures of earth from the space shuttle Atlantis, we see an blue marble with swirls of white clouds, an amazingly beautiful picture. The oil spill has recently caught the attention of space-mounted camerias, such as these, where the swirls of oil slick and the fires show as a cream colored stain. But when God looks at the world, his filter is slightly different. Here is my paraphrase of Psalm 14:1-3:

"Can it be that anyone actually really believes that 'There is no God'? Decaying inside, rotten outside-could anything good come from such zombies? You think it strange, but God looks down from his vantage point, looking for any sign of life. But what He sees is that everyone has detoured. They have all chosen the path of inner decay and outward rot."

My natural tendency is towards decay--towards zombification. I have no power--indeed, no desire--in myself to alter this course. And I sit in a city of millions who share my unwillingness to seek God. We all stand in need of rescue--revivification--resusitation. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 2:17)

Practical atheism is living like God doesn't exist. It is the preference for the life of the zombie. Take hold of the new life God gives and come alive.