I am sitting on my couch, watching the Olympics while Lindsey and mine's baby (our dog), A.J. sleeps so peacefully. What a gorgeous day it has been. You can never go wrong when you spend at least part of your day worshipping with other believers and studying God's Word. A.J. and I went out and played some and she seems wore out which is a good thing. It has allowed me to get some much needed work done.
As part of my sermon prep for revival in North Dakota, I have been studying over Acts 17. Paul has a great speech in which He tells the men of Athens about the one, true God who can be known and longs for us all to seek Him and find Him. Athens was the center for Greek culture and philosophy. Needless to say there were tons of beliefs, lifestyles, etc that permeated the city. It was even common to see statues built in honor of an "unknown God." How crazy is it to worship a god you do not know, or that you are even unsure exists? We would call these people nuts, yet I think we struggle with this ourselves. Without knowing it a lot of times, we worship ourselves, our jobs, money, power, lusts, etc and do not realize that is what is controlling us. Worship goes beyond visiting a temple and some prayers, but what we truly worship is what we controls us and drives us to live like we do. I think Paul would say something very similar to us today, that he did back there.
"I see you guys are religious, spiritual, and quite passionate. You even build these great shrines to the things you worship, but these are not real gods. These gods don't exist and following after them leads you down a wrong path. Let me tell you about the true God, who created the universe, who made us all and appointed where we would live and how long we would live. Let me tell you about the God who sent His Son to die for you. Just sit back and listen for a moment..."
Matthew 6:33 tells us the seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. May this be our focus. May it be my focus.
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