In his letters to the Corinthians, Paul admits he is not a polished, eloquent speaker. In fact, there’s a story in Acts 20 where a young man nods off during one of Paul’s sermons and falls to his death from the window in which he was sitting. Yet here he is, speaking to the educated, sophisticated Greeks of Athens, known for their mastery of philosophy and debate.
Notice how he begins. “I see how religious you are in every way.” He doesn’t chastise them for their worship of idols. Instead, he tells them first what they are doing right, affirming their longing to connect with something/someone greater than themselves. He invites them to consider that their objects of worship are just that: objects, inanimate and fixed. He opens to them an alternative: a Spirit God who is in all and for all, who is life and breath and fluid, who knows and is known.
When you think of the objects of your devotion in this life, of those activities that occupy your time and capture your attention, to what degree do they offer life? In what ways are they more like the ‘unknown gods’ of the Greeks versus the God in whom ‘we live and move and have our being’?
Offer a prayer of thanksgiving to the God who breathes life into every day.