Billy Graham once remarked: “Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil – it has no point.”1 May the following few observations show us just what a world without God would be like.
You are an accident
If there is no God how do you think you got here? The only alternative is evolution. Without God your arrival to planet earth could only have happened by the following scenario: Perhaps billions of years ago in some primordial gaseous mixture there occurred a chance collision of random molecules that somehow combined to produce amino acids. And then with the passage of more millions of years these amino acids accidentally combined to produce protein molecules. Finally, with more millions of years these protein molecules accidentally combined to form a living single cell creature. You get the picture. This amoeba like cell through more accidental occurrences became a mammal and through even more incredible random combinations became man. Thus, if you worship at the shrine of science you came from the goo to the zoo to you!
As a result of these long strings of accidental combinations of cells, rather than being made in the image of God you are here by pure accident and therefore, sadly have no intrinsic value.
Your destiny is the grave
Eternal life is a closed corridor of thought in a world without God. Without God the only way to view your life is that you came from nothing and when you die you go back to nothing and somehow you must find meaning in between these two states of nothingness. How sad to live such a short life knowing that your future is a pine box.
Life is so unfair
Without God life can seem so cruel. If all you know is that you are an accident imagine how senseless a world we must live in where millions go hungry to bed every night, millions are blind, millions must live in wheelchairs, and soon you will perish. Without God there is just no way to make sense of all the tragic events that hit all of us during our short lived lifetimes. In fact, for millions of people we can sadly say that their lives are nothing more than tragic accidents. Without God suffering can seem so cruel and life so empty.
Life has no point
And that brings me to my final observation. Without God life has no point! If all you know about your existence is that you are here by accident, a grave awaits you, and for so many hardships and tragedy are their lot in life then what is the point of living. What comfort can you offer someone living in this belief system? My friends there is simply none. My conclusion is that if there is no God life is nothing but a cruel joke and your existence is meaningless.
But thankfully we live in a world where God does exist and His name is Jesus. In this world you are not an accident but a masterpiece of God’s creation made in His very image. For those of us who allow Jesus to be our Lord and Savior the grave that awaits us is merely a temporary stop on our way to eternal life. And while life is often still unfair, as I said in yesterday’s devotion, one of the greatest privileges I know is that we can turn these trials into opportunities to bring glory to God.
To live as an atheist must indeed be a sad and lonely life. Imagine not knowing how you came into the world, what your purpose in life is, and that the grave is the best you can look forward to when you die. How morbid, how senseless, how utterly meaningless. But praise God for He is alive and well on planet earth and has a wonderful plan for your life!
1 Billy Graham quote: Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil – it… (azquotes.com)