The Presence of God

Acts 17: 26-28

“26 From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, 27 so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. 28 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.”

Paul was in Athens, preaching at the Areopagus.  He was telling the Greeks who were gathered there about God and Christ.  He told them about the one true God who dwells in us; the God who came to earth and dwelled among us and died for us and was resurrected and ascended into heaven.  And after he had said all this, some of the Greeks laughed.  

They laughed because they could not imagine such a God as Paul described.  A God who loved us so much that he sent his son to die for us so that we would have eternal life.

Even today, this is hard for some people to believe; that God is in the world, not far from each of us; that we are children of God; that we live and die in the presence and love of God.

It is God’s desire to be near to us.  Invite Him into your heart.

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier