Faith Snapshot

I like this story about Paul and how he interacts with the people of Athens. I actually chuckled a bit when I read the quote from Paul referring to an altar he had seen dedicated to a "unknown god". The bible contains snapshots of everyday life, not every passage, book, and chapter are flowing with glorious descriptions of our Lord, immense wisdom, or miraculous signs. Sometimes the passages are just simple and every day. We don't often see a lot humor per se in the bible, there aren't stories of Jesus telling a good joke, or one of the disciples sharing a good limerick. But reading the first part of this story, I have to wonder if perhaps Paul was able find some humor in the situation.

Of course it's not a good thing that the Athenians were worshiping everything and anything literally, but there is some humor here, at least to me. I mean some Athenian spent time, money, and energy, creating this altar to the unknown god. It's like they thought to themselves, well just in case I missed any god, it's better to be safe than sorry. It's like when I go to a grocery store and they are offering free samples and I take one no matter what it is just because I wouldn't want to miss out on something free! The Athenian better make an altar just because he doesn't want to miss one! It's at least a little amusing right?!

But this brings about a good point which Paul addresses to the crowd. We in fact do have a god that wants to be in relationship with us, and to be in relationship is to be known. So, God wants to be known to us. God has given us his word, his laws, his poetry, his wisdom, and then finally his Son, all in an attempt that we might know God. And so I would ask you, how well do you really know God? If someone who knew nothing about our Lord, could you give a succinct description? Paul can and does. Really look at how well he describes God.

Allow my humble attempt to simplify Paul's statements about God.

• God makes everything in this world
• He is not only the Lord of earth, but the Lord of the heavens
• God is not contained in a shrine or anything made by human hands
• God doesn't need anything from us to be God. God is God, with or without us.
  
• ALL life comes only from God. This includes our lives.
• Life began with God. Human life began with one common ancestor (Adam)
  
• God is in control, and while we won't be able to find God on Earth, God is always with us!
• In him is life as we know it
• We are made in the image of God
• A mortal mind at its best can't create the correct image of God
• God has made his laws known to us for milenia, and now we need to repent for breaking them
• God sent Christ to be the judge over creation.
• The authority of Christ is demonstrated through his own death and resurrection
• We have the hope of resurrection through Christ.

Paul establishes all these, in a brief conversation. As we look over the descriptions of God, we find them to be surely accurate, but as I read through them, I found there to be something missing. Where was the talk of the Trinity, or at the very least, identifying Christ as God's own son? As I got to thinking about it further, I thought, would it really be fair to attempt to describe the Trinity and that God and Christ are one, AND Christ is the Son of God to a group of people who have made a "just in case" altar?! I should think not. And remember too this is a casual conversation he's having with a mixed group of people, that evolved on the spot. But I find hope at the very end, where some of the Athenians became believers, or at the very least, interested in hearing more. I think that the conversations that followed with these would have gone into more depth about the identity of Christ and the Holy Spirit. Both Spirit and Christ were eluded to in his overview, but not given much depth.

So if you get into a conversation with a person or a group, and God comes up, are you prepared to talk about the god that you know, love and serve? The Lord of Lords, and the King of Kings?

We pray:

Dear Heavenly Father, Loving Son, and Holy Spirit,
You want to be known. You want to be in relationship with us, and for this we are so very grateful. God we do repent of our sins which you have identified for us in your word. We ask that you grant us forgiveness, and wisdom to know you well enough to tell strangers all about you. In your love we hope and pray,
Amen.