He Is Not Far From Each One Of
Us
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 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.”
When they heard of the
resurrection of the dead, some scoffed; but others said, “We will hear you again
about this.” At that point Paul left them. But some of them joined him and
became believers, including Dionysius the Areopagite
and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
Acts
17:22-34
Paul wrote that God is at
work among people of all nations “so that they should seek the Lord, in the
hope that they might grope for Him and find Him.” God is not far from any of
us.
We should be alert for the
Lord’s presence where we least expect to see Him. Jesus may invite Himself to
any Christmas party. After all, it is His birthday.
This
Christmas, be alert for the work and presence of Jesus.
Our Daily Bread – December 24, 2008