+DEV+ The Just-in-Case God

Date: November 18, 2010 10:39 PM
Topic: +DEV+ The Just-in-Case God

The Just-in-Case God

"'The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands'" (Acts 17:24).
Scripture Focus: Acts 17:16-23

When Paul preached "the good news about Jesus and the resurrection" in Athens (Acts 17:18), some philosophers thought he was advocating foreign gods and therefore brought him to the Areopagus, a court that decided religious matters.

Paul was, in fact, introducing the true God, not a foreign god. The God he preached was the One the Athenians had built an altar to and designated, "An Unknown God" (vs. 22). Apparently the Athenians had built this altar in case a god existed that they knew nothing about. Many religious people today who do not know the true God pay some respect to Him by occasionally attending church, wanting to mollify Him just in case He exists.

The apostle Paul identified the true God as the sovereign Creator, to Whom we owe our existence and to Whom we are accountable, Who raised Jesus from the dead and summons everyone to repent. In brief, Paul urged the members of the Areopagus to put aside their feelings about a just-in-case god and put their faith in the true God.

Insight: God may be unknown to many, but He has made Himself known through Jesus. Everyone who believes on Jesus becomes personally acquainted with God.