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
I began my educational journey in a country school with all eight grades in one room. It didn't have much when it came to stimulating resources. I wanted to explore the world. I dreamed of faraway places like New York, Germany, and Hong Kong. There, I thought, I would find learned mentors who would answer my deep quests.
Did Paul also have those same yearnings that I had? Is that why he visited Athens? When he was invited to share what was on his mind, he started with what he saw. He listened. He didn't recommend any best-selling books or exciting new seminars that had all the answers to the world's problems. Instead he challenged his listeners to turn their lives around. Repent. Believe in Jesus, the One whom God raised from the dead! This risen Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life. And we have the promise, "... and I will love them and reveal myself to them" (John 14:21). That is good news for dreamers like you and me.
Prayer
God of all wisdom, help us to see that our hearts are restless until they find their rest in your Son, Jesus the Christ. Amen.