Focus

Prepare yourself to discern what is and what is not of God today. Still yourself so you can hear how God is calling you.

Read

Acts 17:22-31 (NRSV)

Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For 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. The 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, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From 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, so 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. For ‘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.’

Since 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. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because 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.”

Reflect

It was 2:30 A.M. when the cries of my 5-year-old daughter woke me. She is plagued with constant night terrors and usually calms herself, but this night was different. As I walked into the room, she was reaching out in an attempt to find anything that might bring her peace. I quickly walked to her bed and assured her that daddy was right beside her and she didn’t have to cry anymore.

We are God’s children, just as were the Athenians. Like them, many of us are reaching out in an attempt to understand the God of the universe. Sometimes we get distracted, perhaps even blinded by the altars of the world. Paul’s proclamation of our God continues to ring true: While God infinitely surpasses human creation, God can best be known through Jesus. God is not to be confused with others and, like my daughter, there is no reason for us to reach out in the dark any longer. How are you aware of God’s presence today?

Pray

God, we give thanks that you are the light of the world. We are thankful that your truth is not an unsolved mystery, but known to those who seek you. May we open our eyes to your presence. Amen.

Go with God.