SCRIPTURE: Acts 17:16-23
“So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship…” (Acts 17:23)
I believe most people worship God, yet do not know that they do.
We were designed to love, honour and serve that which is ultimate, good, worthy.
But having lost our fellowship with God, we latch on to the ‘next best thing’.
Our versions of God can be spiritual, like twisted ideas of’god’.
They can be physical, like alcohol, sex, money, possessions.
They can be social, like fame, popularity, good looks, notoriety, success, conquest.
Whatever we put first in our lives, that is our ‘god’, though we are ignorant of it.
Sadly, any god but God will enslave us, and ruin us in the end.
We were made for God, and our hearts find no rest until they rest in Him.
“This is what I am going to proclaim to you.” (Acts 17:23)
Our job is to help people realize the God they are really looking for.
Our task is to show them why the true God is worthy of our love and devotion.
Our calling is to preach “the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.” (Acts 17:18)
Because the God of Jesus is worth our love and devotion, and will not let us down.
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, Your picture of God is both grand and good. How can we settle for anything less. Rescue us from our ignorance, that we may know the God we were made for.
Observations/Application
Babblers they are. Full of hot air.
All talk. Men of words but no action.
Busy with words.
They wanted to hear the new idea from Paul – for they were busybodies. The new idea was Christ and the future – Jesus and the resurrection. They wanted to hear because it was new and wanted to talk about the latest. But Paul is setting them straight using this opportune time for these ignorant people.
Seize the moment.
Seize the day
for telling the Good News.
Always.
Share the reason for the talk
and
the reason for living.
Jesus is the answer.
Jesus bids us shine
With a pure, clear light,
Like a little candle
Burning in the night.
In this world of darkness
So let us shine—
You in your small corner,
And I in mine.
Jesus bids us shine,
First of all for Him;
Well He sees and knows it,
If our light grows dim.
He looks down from Heaven
To see us shine—
You in your small corner,
And I in mine.
Jesus bids us shine,
Then, for all around;
Many kinds of darkness
In the world are found—
Sin and want and sorrow;
So we must shine—
You in your small corner,
And I in mine.