Acts 17:22-31 (NRSV)
Read Acts 17:22-31 on biblegateway.com
Verse 22Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, "Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. Verse 23For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, 'To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. Verse 24The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, Verse 25nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. Verse 26From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, Verse 27so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him-though indeed he is not far from each one of us. Verse 28For 'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we too are his offspring.' Verse 29Since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. Verse 30While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, Verse 31because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."
Devotion
The young lady had a simple question, but it had an edge of defiance, “Why do I need to repent?” The underlying belief was, if I am good there should be no problem.
None of us like the idea of repentance when we really think about it. We have a good rationale for everything we have done. Yet it is in our willingness to look honestly at ourselves and our actions that we see our need for God. That need forces us to reach for God; and in so doing we find God who has been with us all along. He has been waiting so that He could forgive, heal and give us the fullness of life.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, let your Spirit speak to us with your truth and with your love so we may turn to you without fear and with assurance that you are ready to forgive. Amen.