"No Mention?"

I recently picked up a book at the library by a popular author who wrote in an autobiographical manner about a particular period of his life.

He wrote about many things. Heritage, family, friendships, career, and the events and conditions that had shaped his life into its present form. I was struck by the fact, however, that he never mentioned God. Not that I expected him to do so (he made no reference to being a believer), but the thought occurred to me that I cannot imagine writing a personal history of life without any reference to He who is our life. Every born again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ would agree because amid the myriad aspects of our existence, the template and frame of reference is the living reality of God.


"Some people live their lives as if they were all alone, gazing blindly down a dark and solitary road.
Listening every now and then for a voice to lead the way; hoping for a hand that won't betray...
hoping for a hand that won't betray."


Modern existence is largely secular in consciousness, although it remains spiritual in reality. All "live and move and have their being in God," and the most ardent atheist uses the breath his Creator provides to voice disbelief and rejection of the truth he cannot escape (Acts 17:28). The scoffer must live in God's universe, and I strongly suspect that the more passion he expresses, the more aware he is that "it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks" (Acts 9:5). God's universe fights back, as it were, against the avowed enemies of faith, and if we could see through the atheist's bluster, a frightened uncertainty would display itself in the darkness of his heart.

Of even greater concern are those like the author previously mentioned, that is, people who seem to just ignore the primary fact of their existence, while perhaps even professing some form of faith and devotion (the author did mention attending a church, but in the most innocuous manner). Again, how does one write autobiographically without mentioning the Author of his or her biography? "Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's" (Romans 14:8). The answer is, of course, blindness. How unseeing must the human heart be apart from Christ, or as He said, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). This is the only explanation, and it is also an encouragement and challenge to believers that we live as the lights of the Lord Jesus that we are. A lost and dying world awaits to see, hear, touch, and know the truth that we are singularly equipped to convey. The Apostle Paul's request for prayer must become our request, and we close accordingly...

"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,"
(Ephesians 6:18-19)

"Ye shine as lights in the world."
(Philippians 2:15)