Faith & Love: A One Year Bible Reading Plan - Part 6Esimerkki

In Acts chapter 17, we see the apostle Paul preaching the gospel to the people of Athens. As he speaks to them, he addresses their religious practices and beliefs, acknowledging their devotion to various gods and idols. Paul highlights one specific god: THE UNKNOWN GOD.

Their search for a deity leads them to a dead-end! Paul points out that the true God is the one who created everything and everyone, and He is not represented by any human-made creation. We as humans cannot introduce God to our reality…as, in fact, our reality is introduced by God. Our faith recognizes God as the origin of all things: In Him, we live and move and have our being!

This is a reminder to us that our faith should be in the one true God who created us and everything around us. We should not put our faith in idols or anything else that man has made. Our faith should be rooted in God and His love for us.

Additionally, Paul speaks to the people of Athens about God's love for us. He tells them that God wants us to seek Him, even though He is not far from us. The term seek suggests “a yearning to draw closer to.” God's love for us is so great that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us so that we might have eternal life – a life of unintimidated intimacy with God.

Paul celebrates the love between God and man as foundational to our faith. We are saved into a love relationship with God which forms the foundation of all we do and becomes the driving force behind our love for others.