Acts 17:22-31

“For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ’For we too are his offspring.’” vs. 28

There were Jews living in Athens and Paul went first to the synagogue to argue and debate with them about Jesus as the messiah. But when some of the Athenian sages heard what Paul was talking about they invited him to come and speak to them on Mars Hill near the Parthenan. 

In his presentation he doesn’t lead with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Instead, as a gifted and knowledgeable speaker he begins by referring to an altar that he has seen  with an inscription to “an unknown god.”

Paul uses that observation as common ground and tells his listeners that he can tell them about their unknown god. He says that God does not live in shrines or buildings made with human hands–God is even more than they have imagined. He says that all things have come into being through the one God and then quotes one of the Greek poets, “In him we live and move and have our being.”

Paul agreed with that poet, and so do many of us. The Divine Mystery is more than we can comprehend–greater than the universe and nearer than our hearts. God lives in us and we find our existence in God. There is no place in all creation where God is not, and wherever we go, God is!

Thought for the Day: Where do I feel closest to God?