It is very tempting for us to act like an ostrich and put our heads in the sand and pretend everything is going great. The truth is things are not great at all. There is a lot of anger and disobedience. There is fear and anxiety. There is hatred and conflict. There is something stirring in our world today and it is not good.
People are doing what is right in their own eyes and they don't seem to care about the consequences. Many people don't want to pay attention to authority or laws. They have developed the, "You can't tell me what to do!", mind set and attitude.
These are indeed perilous times that we are living in. There is coming a time when Jesus Christ will return as the Just Judge and He will Judge the world. I am reminded of reading about the time the Apostle Paul was in Athens and he noticed all of the idols that the people were worshipping instead of worshipping the True Living God, the Lord. Paul was distressed about seeing all of the idols. There are many thing that people worship today instead of God. What ever we spend the most time on and money on is usually our idol in our hearts.
Acts 17:16-34
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.
17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.
18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?
20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.”
21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.
23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “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 human hands.
25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.
26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.
27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.
28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.
30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”
33 At that, Paul left the Council.
34 Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.
Paul talked to a group of people about the idols that he saw and he mentioned one in particular. Paul mentioned the idol to an unknown God. Paul used this object of worship to tell them about the true living God, the Lord. The Lord created the Heavens and the earth. God created human beings in His image.
The Lord is calling people to repent of their idolatry and their sins. The Lord is calling people to come to Himself. God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to this earth to live a perfect sinless life. Jesus went obediently to the Cross and died for our sins. Everyone who repents of their sins and trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will be saved for it is written, "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
Jesus rose from the dead on the third day and is at the right hand of God in Heaven. One day Jesus will return to Judge the world. We will be called to give an account of the lives we lived here on the earth and what we did with Jesus. Did we make Him our Lord and Savior and trust Him with our eternity? or did we reject His forgiveness and forfeit eternal life in Heaven with Him?
There is only one way into Heaven. There is only one way to have our sins forgiven. That is by trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Jesus shed His blood for our sins. There is only one name under heaven in which people must be saved by and that is Jesus.
Are you trusting in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?
He is going to return to the earth soon. Are you ready?
Lord,
We come humbly to your throne of grace.
Forgive us for trying to do things our own way and being disobedient.
Help us to live for You Lord.
Help us to warn others and tell them about Jesus Christ.
Come soon Lord.
In Jesus name we pray,
Amen.
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