For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteous of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse.
Romans 1:18-20  HCSB

Recently we had a section in our Sunday School lesson entitled, “God doesn’t believe in Atheists”. This Scripture tells us that God merely considers those who don’t believe in Him to be suppressing the truth. He has shown His attributes, His power and His divinity to us through His creation. Psalm 114:1 tells us that the fool says in his heart, “God does not exist.” They are corrupt and do evil deeds.

Many claim to be Christians, but live there lives as if there is no God and they will never face judgment. They live as though they can do whatever they choose and live any way they choose and they will be just fine. I want you to understand something. This is not true. There is a God. As a girl who has grown up in Southeast Louisiana, I have seen Him revealed through the beauty of our natural waterways, the snowy egret and it’s gracefulness, and the magnolias that are now in bloom.  He reveals Himself to us through science. He supplies the perfect amount of oxygen for us to breath. If it were not enough or too much we would die. He reveals Himself in the miracle of life. How can you hold a newborn baby and believe that there is no God in heaven?

But you must remember that the same God in heaven is the God that reveals His wrath to us. If we choose to live in our own unrighteousness instead of accepting the righteousness that He freely offers through grace, His wrath will be revealed to us. If we suppress the truth found in His Holy Word by living as though it is not true, we better watch out.

We serving a loving, merciful God. In Exodus 34:6-7 God described Himself to Moses by saying that He was compassionate, gracious, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving wrongdoing, rebellion, and sin. But He also says that He will not leave the guilty unpunished, and that He will bring the consequences of the father’s wrongdoing on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.

Our unbelief and our disobedience has consequences. God loves us as a good, good father loves His child. For this reason He disciplines us. He doesn’t want us to engage in activity that can harm us. He wants us to be born again into a spiritual birth and grow spiritually into mature Christians. This is for our own good.

And when you think about it, why would we not want to believe in God. I get that people want to live anyway they choose, but when we do this we deny that there is any hope in our existence. If we don’t believe in God, then we have no hope for eternal life.  We deny the truth found in His word. As our Scripture passage says we suppress the truth.

We all like to believe that God works all things out for our good. But, in order for this to happen it says that we must love the Lord and be called according to His purpose, or surrender to His will, for our lives. We like to believe Jeremiah 29:11 that God has good plans for us, but this is addressed to those about to be taken into captivity in a pagan society. God is encouraging them to live and thrive where they are and in due time, 70 years, He promises return them to their land.

I’ve heard people say how can a loving God cause disaster and bring hardship on people? Well, my friend, the answer to this is that sin causes this. For those of us that trust in God, we know that trials and tribulations bring endurance and maturity. But we also know that God is with us during these times. For those that don’t believe, I’m not sure what they base their hope in.

I guess to answer my own question, I would have to say, “No, I don’t believe in atheists.” I do believe, however, that we behave like atheists when we deny God’s power and God’s potential for wrath and justice. If we believe in God, then we must believe the goodness of God, but must also understand He is a God of justice and He will pour out his wrath on the disobedient.

You may not claim to be an atheist, you may claim to be a Christian. But is your lifestyle lining up with your belief? I pray that you live like you believe before it’s too late.

Have a great day!