Monday, October 2, 2017

October 3, 2017

"For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring." Acts 17:28

The Apostle Paul was preaching in Athens and noticed that they were very religious but did not know the One true God or His Son Jesus. In their shrines they had many idols to many idols and to make sure they did not miss a god or offend a diety they built an idol to "the unknown god".

Paul saw an opportunity to proclaim the Gospel and began to tell them about this God Who was knowable, Who wanted to be known, and Who "was not far from them."

What Paul told them about God, we could stand to hear. Let's examine it more closely:

The Centrality of Christ - "In Him....."

God will not settle for being "a" god. He must be "the" God. There is no god like our God. He is beyond compare. He created you for Himself. He put within you a "God-shaped" void that nothing else can satisfy. You were never designed to be happy or fulfilled without having God squarely in the center of His will.

The Vitality of Christ - "....we live and move......

When God identifies Himself as the "Alpha and Omega", the beginning and the end, He is acknowledging that all life begins and ends with Him. Since that glorious and ancient day when He commanded, "Let there be....", life has flourished on this beautiful planet. And He personalized life when He sent His only Son, Jesus, so that His life could flourish within us.

The Identity With Christ - "....and have our being."

Paul was speaking to men who were very religious and somewhat superstitious. They wanted to make sure that they covered their bases spiritually. If there was a god they needed to know - they wanted to know him. It was important for them to be right with their gods. I imagine that the Great Apostle was moved by their sincere desire to be right with a God they had yet to know. So he sweetens the deal by promising that this unknown God, his God, is One Who knows you, can be known by you, and wants to dwell in you. This God is so vast and so good that you can lose yourself in Him - and only when you lose yourself in Him do you find yourself! Some of them did!

Have you?