Daily Worship

Areopagus

Roderick MacLeod May 21, 2017 0 0

Acts 17: 22-31

22 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. 23 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.

24 ‘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. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 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. 27 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. 28 “For in him we live and move and have our being.”As some of your own poets have said, “We are his offspring.”

29 ‘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. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 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.’

Recognising validity in the insights of those who do not share our faith goes against the grain. But it builds bridges and may open their hearts enough to receive our word of testimony. God is nearer than we think and he has revealed himself in the person of Jesus.

 

Creator God, 

deliver us from both extremes -

of timidity and arrogance.

 

Show us our “areopagus” 

- at home, work, or leisure - 

and help us see the connections 

with those who worship an “unknown god”.

 

Quicken our hearts to care enough

that we would articulate that connection

and then have the good sense

to let you do the rest! 

 

Areopagus - biblestudytools.com/dictionary/areopagus