Acts 17:22-23 says: “Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: ‘People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you’ ” (NIV).
While Paul’s presentation was for those who were seeking, it is a powerful reminder for us who have been found by God.
God is the CREATOR of the universe: ” ‘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’ ” (Acts 17:24).
God is too big for you to handle, manipulate or control. This is good news and bad news. The good news is that He is big enough to handle anything that concerns you. The bad news: If you think being in control of your destiny is the only way … He is Lord as well.
God is the SUSTAINER of life: ” ‘And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything. Rather, He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else’ ” (Acts 17:25).
God doesn’t need anything from you except your needing of Him, and even that is for you.
God is the RULER of all the nations: ” ‘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. God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us. “For in Him we live and move and have our being” ‘ ” (Acts 17:26-28a).
Where you find yourselves is not an accident with God. God has structured our lives in order to attract us to Him.
God is the FATHER of human beings: ” ‘As some of your own poets have said, “We are his offspring.” Therefore, since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill’ ” (Acts 17:28b-29).
Idolatry is the attempt either to localize God or domesticate Him. The truth is, He is our Father, from whom we are meant to derive our very being.
God is the JUDGE of the world: ” ‘In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent. For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead’ ” (Acts 17:30-31).
We are not moving toward some kind of personal extinction or some kind of absorption into Nirvana. Nope … we are heading toward a judgment encounter with God that will be universal, righteous and definite. We live as those who will someday give an account for their lives.
“Heavenly Father, in You we live and have our being. We humbly pray for You to guide and govern us, that in all the care and occupations of our lives, we may not forget You, but remember that we are ever walking in Your sight. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, we pray. Amen.”
By: Dennis Easter, district supervisor of Foursquare’s Pacific Coast and Valleys District
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