Listen

Paul stood up in the middle of the council on Mars Hill and said, “People of Athens, I see that you are very religious in every way. As I was walking through town and carefully observing your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: ‘To an unknown God.’ What you worship as unknown, I now proclaim to you. God, who made the world and everything in it, is Lord of heaven and earth. He doesn’t live in temples made with human hands. Nor is God served by human hands, as though he needed something, since he is the one who gives life, breath, and everything else.”

Acts 17:22-25

Think

In today’s story, Paul has been detained and questioned. Those questioning him are making fun of his faith and trust in God because it seemed more relational and less academic.

It’s ironic that in trying to define and confine God in our space and understanding, God stays unknown. But embracing the mystery reveals the nature of God.

In today’s text, Paul stands face to face with the intellectual elite of Athens and tells them the One they know as unknown is the God who seeks to be known. Paul argues that God cannot be known in the conventional way we know things. God must be experienced.

Today, take Paul’s advice and walk outside and let God come to you.

Brad Hood

Pray

Almighty God, open my eyes to the ways in which I think I know you, so that I can know you better.

Amen.

Go

Endeavor to keep finding God.

Uncover, rediscover, know,

and then be completely surprised by God,

revealed in all that is around us and all that is within us.