So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’
Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’
Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” Acts 17:22-31
America has returned to the Areopagus and is as confused as ever! And we need clear preaching about God who is our creator and His Son Jesus Christ, more than ever before. People are lost! The spirit of the apostle Paul was provoked by the base idolatry of the Athenians. It grieved him to see them so spiritually lost that they had turned to hundreds, if not thousands of idols, none with the ability to satisfy the longing of their souls. But alas, Paul took the creative opportunity when he saw a statue made To The Unknown God, to tell them about the God of the universe. And Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them, believed.
Is it time that I enter my ‘areopagus’ (public forum) and proclaim the hope in Christ to a lost world? How would God have me do it?
Lord Jesus, as you directed the apostle Paul, please direct me. May I be of value in Your kingdom today as I reach out and love people one at a time. Please give me the opportunity to proclaim Your will and ways and glorious gospel to those who are lost and desperately searching in all the wrong places.
