Acts
17:22-28 (KJV)
“22 Then Paul stood in the
midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all
things ye are too superstitious.
23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
25 Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.”
23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
25 Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.”
Are we in search of salvation? / Are we in search of a
gracious God?
It is in finding the gracious God we find salvation. If we
are in search of salvation, we tend to gravitate to the idea of eternity
somewhere in the future; we tend to create a righteousness accepted of God. In
finding the gracious God, we find eternal life and Christianity becomes a way of life in the world that heals the world,
in this, salvation becomes concrete and present in the here and now as we
act from being justified in having found the gracious God. Therefore, are we in
search of ways to be justified as a means leading to salvation, or, are we
justified in finding God.
It is in
finding God that we are regenerated and justified, it is as we find God we come
to ourselves as the prodigal son came to himself. Coming to ourselves gives us
purpose to change. Regeneration, justification, sanctification happens to us as
we search for God. “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for
me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).
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