GoodNews

ENCOURAGEMENT 34 MAY 2018 Good News • South Florida Edition I think most people, even those who say they believe in God or even Christianity, are very secular in their “Monday Morning” approach to life. I know it is easy for me to fall into a “secular” frame of mind. What do I mean by secular? —Relating to the cultural or tem- poral concernswithout any refer- ence to big ideas, metaphysical thoughts, religion or faith. The core idea is that it is focused on the here and now. It is looking at life “under the sun” and not connecting it to the eternal. All things spiritual are irrelevant, impractical and lacking significance. A person who thinks in a secular way can believe there is a God but that the existence of God is not needed in their daily life. When I am in a secular mind frame, I act like God does not exist, re- gardless of what I say on Sun- day morning. When we are in a secular frame of mind, we don’t pray because we doubt God cares to answer. When we are in a secular outlook, we don’t believe we need God to live an effective life or a happy life. When we see things through secular eyes, we don’t read the Bible because we don’t think we need it to know about life. When our focus is on the secular, we fear that getting in- volved with God would hinder what we need to do to succeed and enjoy life. People who live mainly in a secular worldview can go to church for a little encourage- ment and motivation, and see going to church as leaving the “real world” for a temporary pick me up by visiting the “sacred space.” When we are “Sunday- only Christians,” we keep our “religion” to ourselves. When we are in this mind frame, we may have made a promise to ourselves that just before death we will “get right with God” just to cover the potential of a life after death. But we try to not think much about death. Some secular people are simply atheists or agnostics. They are consistent and sin- cere in their outlook on life. Such people may find some “faith” in “foxholes” or crisis mo- ments, but for the most part, they strive to live only consid- ering the “real world” that they can see and experience. But many people who be- lieve in God are secular in their lifestyles. Most “Cultural Chris- tians” are secular people. They have a “little faith,” but it does not transform or guide their lives. Many more people are practical atheists who would never agree with atheism itself. All of us can have “atheist mo- ments” when we forget God and live as though He did not exist. So, in the last week, how often did you and I live as “sec- ular” people? How often was God’s exis- tence not important, relevant or significant to us? One of the ideas in the Bible that deals with the con- cept of “secular” is how the Messiah Jesus sometimes used the word “world.” “I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not re- main in darkness” (John 12:46 NASB). The idea of “world” in this context refers to society, human community and civil structure focused not on the “Kingdom of God” but just life here and now without any need for the spiritual or eternal. Jesus believes that such a viewof theworld isdark. Hecame to take away that darkness. Is Jesus right or wrong? Some would feel that secu- larism is “light” and that faith in God being important to life is the “darkness.” They see the “dark ages” as existing when people took the idea of God seriously in their daily lives and now we live in the age of “enlightenment” which knows that God is not to be part of everyday life (exclud- ing an hour on Sunday occa- sionally if you happen to be into that sort of thing). They would feel strongly that Jesus is wrong. Is Jesus right or is John Lennon right when he sings “Imagine there’s no heaven. It’s easy if you try; No hell below us;Above us only sky; Imagine all the people living for today…” The real question is how should life be lived? Should we be secular or sacred in living “for today?” Should I live as a “sec- ular” person with no concern for heaven or hell, or as a “sacred” person who has God in his heart and all his actions? Which God we serve and what is the will of that God is crit- ical since the wrong “God” can be a demon. Thus, the danger of getting God involved at all in everyday concerns since much evil has been done historically and is being done presently in “God’s name.” What is a healthy view of God? How can we bring the sacred into all of life and not become reli- giously abusive to others?This an- cient creed may help us. “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. ... Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him” (Psalm 103:8, 13 NASB). People who incarnated this vision of God consistently in their Musings on Being Secular Dr. Norman Wise Good News