www.cg: The God-Free Zone

THE "GOD-FREE ZONE"

by Richard Burkard

Many schools in the United States are taking a "zero tolerance" policy when it comes to guns, illegal drugs and violence. Some principals even post signs at the edge of the campus declaring the area a "drug-free zone." But recently I was introduced to a new, related concept I'd never considered before - the "God-Free Zone."

Before the "www.cg" section was added, the LaughLine web site contained a "hidden page" with a gospel message. (Nope, I'm not telling where it is; "seek and ye shall find." :-> ) I like to do this on web sites I oversee -- in an attempt to be a "sneaky evangelist." A Christian man was so struck by one of these pages that he sent me e-mail about it. The letter was quite personal and confessional, but here's a bit of what he wrote:

I admire your calling and at the same time your boldness for Christ. The Internet has become a major distraction for me.... In fact it had become my "God free zone"....

This phrase made me stop and think. How many people have God-Free Zones in their lives? They have locations or times when God seemingly is left in another room or locked in the car trunk, while they go about "their business" in life. Some would argue court rulings about prayer have turned U.S. public schools into God-Free Zones. But the location could be the workplace, a vacation spot, a movie theater - even a closet where illicit items are hidden.

Yet this e-mail reminded me that these zones are not merely for nonbelievers. Even committed Christians can develop areas where God is consciously or unconsciously left behind. At the risk of sounding legalistic, here are some examples:

Do you play on a sports team (even a church sports team) where the game devolves into "trash talk" and personal ego trips? If you're not keeping yourself above such things, you may have built a God-Free Zone.
Have you attended a Feast site - but after the daily service put the Bible away, while you went eating or drinking or playing or shopping until bedtime? If God is only a "minimum daily requirement" of your Feast trip, the rest might turn into a God-Free Zone.

Are you like the letter writer - using the Internet (or perhaps television or home video) to mindlessly escape from the pressures and challenges of living a Christian life? Then that area of your life has the potential of becoming a God-Free Zone.

Admittedly, there's a natural human tendency to want to call "time out" for awhile from the challenges of life. Jesus seemed to do this Himself - e.g. Matt. 14:13, 23; Mk. 1:35; Lk. 4:42. But look at what He did during a time out: "he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray." (Mt. 14:23) To borrow from Greta Garbo, Jesus wanted to be alone -- but alone with His Father! The prayer time in the garden of Gethsemane is an excellent example of this as well.

Several ministers have put it this way: "If He is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all!" While this may sound extreme and harsh, imagine how different some familiar hymns would be if this were not the case. When we "hail the power of Jesus' name," would we crown Him Lord of MOST? Would we sing, "I Surrender SOME?" Would Christians "Go Ye Therefore Into PART of the World?"

Zechariah 4:10 warns the "eyes of the Lord....range throughout the earth." (Note also Rev. 5:6) We might take this in a literal sense, and assume these eyes are like the cameras at the "Big Brother" house, watching every move you make. Yet they're watching more than that:

"Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (I Sam. 16:7)

"O righteous God, who searches mind and hearts...." (Psm. 7:9)

"....For the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts." (I Chr. 28:9)

Do these verses scare you? If you've been brought up in a typical U.S. mindset, they could. After all, activists on both sides of the political spectrum proclaim they have a "right to privacy" - giving them the right to abort babies, smoke marijuana, keep child pornography on their home computers, hide caches of weapons, and who knows what else.

Yet the Bible is clear about this viewpoint: in God's sight, there's no such thing as the "right to privacy." It's ultimately a farce, because God sees all and will judge all. "....God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ...." (Rom. 2:16) "He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts." (I Cor. 4:5) God will look into the "God-Free Zones" of our lives and expose what they really are -- areas of rebellion against Him, to some extent or another.

To be honest, God always has operated this way to some extent. He noticed it when Achan kept some of the spoils of battle for himself. (Joshua 7) He worked through Nathan to expose King David's one-night stand with Bathsheba. (I Sam. 12) In a similar way, he'll judge the adulterer who cheats on his wife so cleverly that she never notices it. (Heb. 13:4) The exposure may come in this life, or in the "resurrection of judgment" (John 5:29, NASB) - but it will come.

We replied to the e-mail writer by encouraging him not to let the Internet become a God-Free Zone - but rather, check sites where God is present and can keep his thinking straight. Another idea is to have a Christian radio station on as you web-surf. After all, you can run from God, but you can't hide. Just ask Jonah -- who tried to make his life God-Free, and wound up in something fishy!

Jesus said in Matthew 19:26, "With God all things are possible." If God can do whatever good and upright thing we can imagine, shouldn't we want Him to be a part of everything we do?

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