atheists

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Beholding His Glory

April 24, 2026April 24, 2026 krisshetter

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” – Psalm 19:1

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” – Revelation 4:11

On our first trip to the island of Kauai my husband surprised me with a helicopter tour. If you’ve ever visited Kauai, you’ll see a continuous stream of these whirlybirds as they circumvent the edge of the island. Besides the “average” beauty of this lusciously green island you’re flown over the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific.” After cresting the top of the mountain, you find yourself perched for just a moment as the helicopter begins its descent into an impossibly breathtaking amphitheater-shaped valley which falls into the azure, blue seas.

We were fortunate that upon reaching that crest, the skies cleared. The view laid out before me literally took my breath away. I could barely speak as the glory of God’s creation burst out in front of me in full technicolor.

God Revealed In Glory

In Romans 1 Paul exhorts Christians to not be ashamed of God and His glory. In fact, he says no one, not one person, has an excuse to not believe in God. Why? Because He has been revealed throughout all time in His creation.

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” Romans 1:20

This revelation of God’s glory became a regular topic between my father and I while we sat waiting for medical appointments. He wanted proof of God’s existence. I would point outside any window and remark, “There’s your proof.” And he would scoff. I would point out the beauty of the human eye, the statistical probability of a baby coming out just about perfect millions upon millions of times, the fact we have all we need to survive and then some. And he would still scoff.

Even knowing all this, and walking in a relationship with Jesus, I still forget at times how glorious God truly is. I question His decisions. I give Him advice on how to solve problems. I idolize things other than Him. Then the Holy Spirit taps my shoulder to remind me that I’m speaking to the great I AM, not just any Joe Blow.

“I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols.” Isaiah 42:8

Our Big God

When my last church went astray with unbiblical teaching, I approached one of the pastors to gain understanding about their thinking. We had a lengthy conversation about a particular topic and then he asked me a curious question. “If I asked you why you believe what you believe are you going to just say, ‘because God said so?’” he inquired. I stood there stunned for a second and then firmly responded, “Yes.” In that moment, I realized how easily even spiritual leaders can shrink God to something manageable.

Last year I read a great little book called, “Your God Is Too Small, A guide for believers and skeptics alike” by J.B. Phillips. He addresses how believers fall into traps of defining God absent the truth of His glory. We make Him into a god of the familiar and every day. For example, we’ve probably heard people (like my father) smirk at the idea of Jesus being resurrected. “There’s no such thing as bringing someone back from the dead! That’s impossible!” Yet, that is exactly what God did.

Phillips discusses 11 types of “God” we create in our minds and in our prayer life. One might think of God as a policeman, always watching and searching for the evil we do. Or as a meek and mild Jesus who, according to some Super Bowl commercials, just wants to be loved and love in return. Others pray as though God never sees what we need – a hands-off god. While others worry He is a micromanager.

But all those are not the real God. The God of majesty and glory. Of power and might. The God of Revelation who commands the winds and seas. Who sends His angels to fight heavenly battles. The God of Daniel 7 whose throne is ablaze with flames with a river of fire come out before Him. The God who has 1,000s upon 1,000s attending Him in the heavens. That God can do the impossible.

Friend, is your god too small? Have you forgotten He is the God of sunrises and sunsets? He has intricately woven every animal, human and plant for His purposes. He is beyond time and our full understanding. And yet, He has invited us to be heirs to this glory through His Son, Jesus. What a glorious gift!

“We have seen that the Son of God created the world for this very end, to communicate Himself in an image of His own excellency. … When we behold the light and brightness of the sun, the golden edges of an evening cloud, or the beauteous (rain)bow, we behold the adumbrations of His glory and goodness; and in the blue sky, of his mildness and gentleness.” Jonathan Edwards

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Enjoying The Cycle Part Two

March 20, 2024March 16, 2024 krisshetter

Did you miss part one? Go to Enjoy Life: From Meaningless to Meaningful

When my own, beautiful and kind mother-in-law was on her final journey to death our family was blessed to not only weep but laugh, to mourn and to dance (vs 4). We experienced great love and healing. Immense sorrow and pain. On what, we discovered the next morning, was to be her final night, I was blessed to be the one to check in on her about 2:00am and give her the last dose of pain medication. I sat by her side yearning to beg her to not leave me. Yet, I knew that was unfair. It would soon be her appointed time to go to the Father, to have her earthly, cancer-ridden body die. So, I held her warm hand and laid my head against her slowly beating heart. A final gift for both of us. For me to remember her until my last day.

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you may talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit— immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.”
CS Lewis

We will all die. For some it may seem too soon or too tragic. It’s the opposing truth to Satan’s statement, “Surely you will not die.” The question is, for whom shall you live? There are no “ordinary” people walking around as Lewis points out. They are either children of God or of the devil. That is where our end lies. That is why, as children of God, we should feel a sense of urgency to share the saving message of Jesus Christ. To share His message of pilgrimage, not prison. It is not a game of “what if” we are playing but of when.

Solomon asks, “For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?” Our daily toil for things other than God is wiped away in the cycles of life. No one will care about the wealth or things you amass or how many rungs you fought for on the corporate ladder. Or even how good you were at keeping your house. They will remember your faithfulness to living in the fruit of the spirit – with love, kindness, gentleness. They will remember that you helped bring them out of darkness. But best of all God, Himself, will remember your love and obedience to Him and count you righteous.

According to the atheist, life comes spontaneously out of the cosmic slime. All life springs from inert or nonliving matter. Life comes from non-life through evolution. Our origin, in other words, is out of death. Since there is no life after death, our destiny is death. What then is the point or value of life? Life is merely an unnecessary chance interruption in the midst of cosmic death. For the believer, on the other hand, God is our creator. We are given the gift of life. Our destiny in Christ is eternal life. Death is merely a very temporary interruption in the midst of cosmic life. “
Arthur W. Lindsley

To think that “this is it” or to imagine heaven just being a cozy little village lends itself to leading the “meaningless life.” But God is a god of hope. He is the promise keeper. And His Word calls for us to live a life looking forward to being with Him in all eternity. Surrounded by love and light. We are not Gnostics. We don’t seek death and the release of our useless bodies. We are children of the God who gave us physical bodies to live in a physical world as a temporary station to hone us, to mold us, to prune us into the new Adams and Eves. And God wants every single one of us healed and to come home.

Death comes to us all. Let’s enjoy this earthly life we have, for however long, preparing us and others for our eternal home.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

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35,000 Decisions

April 26, 2021September 1, 2021 krisshetter

…yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. 
Habakkuk 3:18

According to Psychology Today we make an average of 35,000 decisions each day. That’s about 2,000 decisions per waking hour. I remember when I was working as a public relations and marketing executive at a mid-sized company. At the end of each day I felt exhausted. I couldn’t even think about what to make for dinner. I realized at some point I had decision-making fatigue.

So many of our decisions are ones we don’t really think much about – if we are going to get up and go to work, if we are going to brush our teeth before leaving the house, if we are going to get dressed. We just sort of do them out of habit or necessity.

But what about our faith lives? How many of us have, along our journey, made the decision to fade away from our faith? Not realizing we’ve made a decision to shut out God. For some people, because of issues at their church or maybe a difficult time in their life they actually made a conscious decision to completely turn away.

There are basically three types of people shown in the Bible. First there is the nonspiritual person who has not accepted God at all. Second there is the person who has accepted Jesus as their savior but still lives by the world’s expectations. And third is what is considered a “mature believer.” This person learns to do the will of God no matter how he/she feels or how difficult it is.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.  
1 Corinthians 13:11

This is where the term “baby Christian” arises. It’s the second type person described. Picture how a baby lives its life. Crying and throwing a tantrum when things get uncomfortable. Babies are very self-focused people. They don’t care if you haven’t slept all night or exhausted from a long day at work. They want, they need, they demand. If they don’t get it, they aren’t happy. They live off feelings and wants and needs. It may sound harsh, but how many of us are living our Christian lives this way?

No matter what level we are on, we should want to grow , but if we find we are still in the baby stage of Christianity, we should certainly make a commitment to God to start working with His Holy Spirit toward maturity.
Joyce Meyer, Change Your Words, Change Your Life

That’s why I like the verse from Habakkuk today. Prior to verse 18 the prophet lists all the things that are going wrong – the fig tree isn’t budding, there’s no grapes, the olive crop is failing, and there’s no livestock. Yet he will rejoice.

Great faith is maturing faith. Great faith is growing faith. And great faith is becoming stronger and great faith is standing on the truth of the Word of God. Not feelings, not other people’s opinions, not the past, great faith stands on the truth of the Word of God. Here’s what God is saying. And the focus is on God. Great faith is always focused on God.
Charles Stanley

And growing faith means choosing to be faithful. We humans don’t tend to like to be the cause of our problems. We want our lack of commitment to God to be about something that happened to us, an absence of the right feelings, or because of the world’s demands. But it’s really about where we have placed so many of our 35,000 decisions. In how many of them did we even consider God’s desires for us?

When you feel like quitting or running away, remember that you can’t run away from your troubles and you can’t run away from yourself. The solution is not running away; it’s running to. It’s running to the throne of grace and finding grace to help in time of need.
Warren W. Wiersbe, Prayer, Praise & Promises: A Daily Walk Through the Psalms

Take the time today to consider your decision making and how it relates to your commitment to God. Sometimes we are tasked to just decide to run to Him – not waiting for a feeling or some grand emotion to well up inside us. If we can make the decision to get up and go to work today or the decision to do the laundry or get the kids off to school we can make the decision to open our Bible. We can make the decision to have a conversation with Jesus.

Most of the 35,000 decisions we make today will be for the world of the flesh. How many can we carve out to be the ones that matter for all of eternity?

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His Will Be Done

March 10, 2021March 2, 2021 krisshetter

Lesson #11: God is sovereign over all, even unbelievers

“The day of the LORD is near 
for all nations.” 
Obadiah 1:15

There’s a song one of my previous churches used to sing a lot that goes, “Our God is an awesome God.” That refrain is sung over and over throughout the song. I’ve always thought that wording was a bit odd. If we have “our God” then which “god” does anyone else have? Once, after a service, I went up to the pastor and asked him that question. I said, “Shouldn’t that song just say, ‘God is awesome?’” He replied that he’d never thought about it before. So again, there I was asking the weird questions. As someone who not only likes to talk but also write, I sincerely believe that words matter – even words we sing.

In our verse today from the prophet Obadiah he makes it clear throughout the prophecy that there is no “our God” or “your god” but only one God – the God of the Universe, God the Creator of All.

“The God who made the world and 
everything in it is the Lord of 
heaven and earth and does not live 
in temples built by human hands. 
And he is not served by human hands, 
as if he needed anything. Rather, he 
himself gives everyone life and 
breath and everything else. From 
one man he made all the nations, that 
they should inhabit the whole earth; 
and he marked out their appointed times 
in history and the boundaries of 
their lands.” 
Acts 17:23-26

As Christians it can be dangerous to fall into the trap of “our God.” It leads us to forget that God’s judgement comes to all, eventually. So, we get outraged over the seeming lack of justice in our human concept of time. We forget that God doesn’t just have expectations of us, as His faithful believers, but also of those who have chosen not to believe. Non-believers don’t get a “free pass,” in the realm of eternity.

Were there even one datum of knowledge, however small, un-known to God, His rule would break down at that point. To be Lord over all the creation, He must possess all knowledge. And were God lacking one infinitesimal modicum of power, that lack would end His reign and undo His kingdom; that one stray atom of power would belong to someone else and God would be a limited ruler and hence not sovereign.
A.W. Tozer

Even when I was, as a what can only be called a “Christian-lite,” I had to laugh when people put limits on God’s authority and ability. If you listen to an atheist, you’ll hear all the limits they wish to place on a being that is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. Their expectation is if they can’t figure it out then it just isn’t true.

“It is only the loyal soul who believes that God engineers circumstances. We take such liberties with our circumstances, we do not believe God engineers them, although we say we do; we treat the things that happen as if they were engineered by men.
Oswald Chambers

The atheist can be forgiven because, for whatever reason, God has yet to open their eyes to Him. But for the Christian to place limits on God is to deny His sovereignty. As stated in the above quote by Oswald Chambers, we Christians sometimes opt for the “coincidence” excuse when God answers our prayers. Or we take complete credit for the win or the loss. Or worse yet, we just assume God won’t or can’t answer our prayers.

So much of our issue with God’s sovereignty comes back to our limited sense of time. We live in a blink of God’s eye. And yet we have the gift of looking back over the history of God’s work in our human existence and see His hand throughout. I heard a good analogy of how God’s timing works along with the issue of free will:

“Perhaps a homely illustration might help us to understand. An ocean liner leaves New York bound for Liverpool. Its destination has been determined by proper authorities (God). Nothing can change it. This is at least a faint picture of sovereignty.

On board the liner are several scores of passengers (Mankind). These are not in chains, neither are their activities determined for them by decree. They are completely free to move about as they will. They eat, sleep, play, lounge about on the deck, read, talk, altogether as they please; but all the while the great liner is carrying them steadily onward toward a predetermined port.

Both freedom and sovereignty are present here and they do not contradict each other. So it is, I believe, with man’s freedom and the sovereignty of God. The mighty liner of God’s sovereign design keeps its steady course over the sea of history. God moves undisturbed and unhindered toward the fulfilment of those eternal purposes which He purposed in Christ Jesus before the world began. We do not know all that is included in those purposes, but enough has been disclosed to furnish us with a broad outline of things to come and to give us good hope and firm assurance of future well-being.” A.W. Tozer

One of greatest prophesies in the Old Testament is Isaiah 53 and one in which all Christians should be well versed. He writes of the coming of God’s Son, Jesus. Isaiah was called into ministry in 739 B.C. And when you read his prophesy of Jesus you can’t help but be amazed of the details which came true. That’s because God has a plan. He has a plan for every single one of us – believer and non-believer. He uses bad circumstances to bring us closer to Him, if we choose. He never makes a mistake. He never has a “Plan B.”

Our human story that started with Adam and Eve was not a mistake. It is all going according to plan. It may not seem, in our small timeframe, to be going all that well right now. But that is the beauty of faith. Today, during a meeting of my BSGs, we shared how during this pandemic there has been some amazing blessings. Yes, a lot of not so great things have happened. But each of us could share how God has used this terrible time as a means for sanctification in our lives.

His sovereignty means we can hold on to all of the promises He has made. God is not a covenant breaker. If anything, it’s us that likes to break covenants. Our ocean liner is on a steady path to the glorious port He has waiting for us. It’s up to us to decide to have faith in our captain that He will get us through any squalls. Some of us will jump ship thinking we know better. Some might even try to take over the ship and turn it around. But God’s will never fails. So, let’s enjoy the ride and know He will bring us home.

“Good is not always God’s will, but God’s will is always good.”
Watchman Nee

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Amazing Proof

November 18, 2020November 17, 2020 krisshetter

Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. ²⁶Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

Luke 5:18-26

“Follow the science.” “Believe in science.” Sound familiar? And yet throughout this year “science” seems to not be the concrete “savior” so many want it to be. I once had a woman tell me she wears her mask to “show her love for me” because science says it’ll somehow save me that she is wearing a mask. While I’m not here to debate wearing or not wearing a mask I can tell you that her wearing a mask doesn’t prove to me she loves me. I’m appreciative when someone doesn’t sneeze or cough in my face but I don’t consider that a proof of their love for me either – it’s just courteous.

We are a people that love proof. So often the proof we desire is that which validates our own opinions – even in the face of completely opposite proof. My father is an atheist. While I don’t expect everyone to suddenly be a Christian, the idea of not believing there is a Divine Entity that had its hand it creating us and the universe seems so, well, unscientific. But just like the pharisees and teachers of the law in the verses today, sometimes we just have a hard time believing even when something amazing is happening right in front of our face. They were so focused on their twisted version of the Law they couldn’t even allow the people to glorify God when faced with miracles.

And then Jesus. Just the simple fact that the paralytic man’s friends knew that if they could just get him close to Jesus, he would be healed was amazing. Where was their proof? To passersby watching them up on the roof trying to lower him down might have scoffed and thought they were crazy. But to the friends, they had only heard of Jesus’ miracles and put their faith in the unknown. For the people inside the house watching Jesus heal the man they had all the proof they needed as to who He was. And yet their sticking point was Jesus forgiving the man’s sins. The healing proof still wasn’t enough for them.

I so frequently see things in nature, not just the amazing ecosystem God created for us humans to survive, but also the heart wrenching beauty and think, “How can anyone not believe there is a God?” What more proof do they need? Our bodies are fine tuned to this earth. The circular systems of creating breathable air, water to drink, food to eat, and sunshine and darkness for our bodies to succeed are really all the proof we should need.

My husband and I got four baby chicks back in March. They are now big, beautiful ladies that lay eggs daily. I asked my husband the other day, “Is there any other animal on this planet that works so hard to feed us humans?” The chicken, according to the Smithsonian, dates back between 7,000 to 10,000 years. It’s mentioned both in the Old and New Testaments. And if you look up a picture of the innards of a chicken you’ll see it is quite simple. In fact, it seems its sole purpose it to lay eggs. There’s really nothing fancy and yet they are amazingly fascinating. The process by which an egg ends up being an egg seems magical. And yet it happens every, single day. Each time I collect eggs I thank the ladies for their hard work. Because I know the next step for that egg will be something delicious – nourishment for my husband before he heads off to work, a small but important part in homemade cinnamon rolls, the key ingredient to a souffle. The chicken was made specifically to lay eggs – fertilized or not. And we were made to eat them.

And yet we still want proof. When I hear non-believers ask for proof I just smile. They are their own proof. Their amazingly complicated body system – the most complicated of all the animals on the planet – that’s their proof. Every breath we take, that’s our proof. And the fact that we are the only species to yearn for a purpose on this globe, to question why we are here, is even more proof. Sometimes the proof we seek is in the absence of something. For the pharisees, they wanted proof that Jesus could forgive sins. And yet they witnessed a God-given miracle right in front of their faces.

Goose bumps evolved to make our ancestors’ hair stand up, making them appear more threatening to predators.
As you breathe, most of the air is going in and out of one nostril. Every few hours, the workload shifts to the other nostril.
Your tongue is made up of eight interwoven muscles, similar in structure to an elephant’s trunk or an octopus’s tentacle.
On a genetic level, all human beings are more than 99 percent identical.
25 Amazing Facts About the Human Body by Mental Floss

How much amazing proof are you overlooking every day? Every single minute of every single hour we take a breath, God proves His existence. The “science” surrounds us. It is us. We are His amazing proof.