“The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, and their ways are vile; there is no one who does good. God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.” Psalm 53:1
“A fool” is a person that acts unwisely. And it would be unwise, one would think, to live as if there was no God, who made no demands upon His creation, when in fact it is abundantly obvious that there is a God. David’s point, in writing this Psalm, is that portion of mankind has always denied the existence of God. It’s nothing novel, unusual or sophisticated.
What is the evidence of disbelief? Corruption and doing things “extremely unpleasant”—-i.e. vile. That being the case, it appears we have a lot of atheists in Washington, DC. Than are willing to admit it. Saying “there is no God” does not necessarily mean someone “believes in nothing”, i.e. an atheist, but rather a person that ignores the supremacy, power, wisdom, judgment and omniscience of the one true God. It’s a lot like wishful thinking, perhaps, to think that there is no “higher power” to whom we must one day answer.
People might say that they believe in God, but corruption and ungodly behavior suggests that if they do acknowledge His existence, they don’t “believe in Him” or the things He advocates.
There are, of course, some folks that don’t affirm their faith in God that appear to be great people! In fact, you might argue that there are some outside the church that are more generous, compassionate and kind than some within the church. God sees all of this and will judge accordingly. But God looks at the heart.
The best behavior by the atheist, and the most selfless act of the agnostic and the highest awards we might give to a humanitarian fall short of God’s standards of what it means to be good, kindhearted and pure. When we judge (positively) another man’s “goodness” based upon our own selfishness or meanness, obviously he/she appears to be “good”. But our hearts and actions cannot be the standards whereby we judge another person’s good deeds. Jesus is the only standard bearer we can look to for goodness and purity.
Yes, there are many folks out there more humble than Joel Osteen, more generous and selfless than Nancy Pelosi or Donald Trump, or more genuine and honest than the folks at NPR or CNN, but they are not the standard——fortunately Jesus Christ is.
Am I a fool, or am I love with the King of Kings——my words and actions will tell.
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