Let the wicked forsake his way, . . . let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him. —Isaiah 55:7

Madalyn Murray O'Hair was perhaps the most notorious atheist of the 1900s. Often profane and sarcastic, she was a powerful debater who shouted down her religious opponents.

After O'Hair mysteriously disappeared in 1995, her diaries were auctioned to pay back taxes she owed the federal government. They reveal an unhappy human being who didn't trust even the members of the American Atheists Association. She passed this harsh judgment on herself: "I have failed in marriage, motherhood, and as a politician." Yet she yearned for acceptance and friendship. In her diary she wrote six times, "Somebody, somewhere, love me."

Instead of viewing atheists like O'Hair as enemies, we should see them as sin-sick people whom God loves. They have a void in their lives that only He can fill. In Isaiah 55:7 we hear God calling out to the godless, inviting them to come to Him and experience His mercy and forgiveness.

We who have experienced the Lord's grace have an opportunity to proclaim His invitation to others. Even in the face of hostility, we can tell those who have turned their backs on God that if they respond to His love for them they will find peace for their troubled hearts.

-VCG

Lord, help us to tell of Your love for mankind—
A love for the sin-sick, the broken, the blind;
Help them to see by the way that we live
The wholeness of being that You long to give.

-DJD

To love sinners is to be like Jesus.