Friday, July 6, 2012

The unknown God

"While Paul was waiting in Athens for Silas and Timothy, he was greatly upset when he noticed how full of idols the city was. ...Paul stood up in front of the city council and said, "I see that in ever way you are very religious. ...I found an altar which on which is written, "To an Unknown God." That which you worship, then, even know, you do not know it, is what I now proclaim to you."

In one of the great feats of preaching, Paul tells the non-believers or believer-wannnabes about the Unknown God.

I wonder ... is that now whom we worship?

Do we know him? Do we know the unknown God? Do we recognize him as the one who not only saves, but who treasures us, loves us, saves us, helps us, makes a way for us? Is that the God we worship? Is that the one we're having a personal relationship with?

I wonder.

I saw on Yahoo this morning a photo project by a photographer who for two years has been taking pictures of dogs just before they are put down at shelters in Taiwan. I wonder, does a society that calls itself civilized do such a thing?

Perhaps you saw the story about the lifeguard who was fired for leaving his post to save a struggling swimmer because the swimmer was out of the lifeguard's zone? What does it say when a person is a hero, saves a life and is fired for the effort whatever the reasoning?

I wonder.

We're in a society that pays far too much attention to media, entertainment, sports and not nearly enough to the God who loves us. Flat out, that's the truth.

Even if someone doesn't believer in God, God believes in them. And yet those of us who are believers, well, we struggle to honor him while we fire off fireworks in honor of freedom.

Paul concludes, "God, who made the world and everything in it, is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands. Nor does he need anything that we can supply by working for him, since it is he himself who gives life and breath and everything else to everyone."

Honor God today, not Sunday, for his is the one who gives life.

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