May 17: Acts 17 22-31

Key Verse: Acts 17 28
‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

Devotion:
Can you imagine the conversation between Paul and God about going to preach among the Greeks! I think Paul may well have questioned why he should be the one who had to go to these religious people and try to convert them toward Christianity. When we look back in the history book we find a myriad of gods whom the Greeks worshipped – almost one for every occasion… But what amazes me more is how the leaders would be able to pull the wool over the people’s eyes as they told them of new gods they would have to worship for various things!

And yet this is what we see in our modern society just as much, the difference being the gods of this world are so many and so diverse now they are no longer called gods, but in reality they are. I’m not going to name and shame anyone and any god, but there are bound to be some things in our own lives which we hold up high and treat as gods… think this through before defending yourself!

Paul was bold enough to stand up before the people and pull them up on this – how they reacted was probably quite expected. Some jeered and scoffed, but some stopped and thought about what they heard and wanted to hear more. Were they just thinking of how they could have another god to add to their list or whether they actually wanted to hear the truth, I don’t know.

But what I do know is that if we are willing to tell people of our God and show them what it is like to be a Christian, then God is faithful to work in their hearts and allow them to see the truth if they are willing to stop and listen with their hearts. I like to think the Greeks had a lot of head knowledge of the other gods but not the heart knowledge, but when we look around us at the passion people have for some pretty strange things in life nowadays, I fear they believed in their hearts their gods would answer them. We need to be urgent and honest about our God!

Points to Ponder:
Do you like to tell people about Christ?

Will you step forward and ask someone if you can pray for them today?