A Call To Turn To The True Living God

Sometimes it can be hard to connect with people so it seems.  We live in a world that is full of technology that allows us to communicate with anyone at anytime anywhere in the world if we wanted to.  Even with all that technology however there seems to be a great disconnect among people. 

Sometimes it is hard to get to know new people and start up conversations.  I am not very good at starting conversations and I am even worse at keeping conversations going.  These are a few things that I need to work on among many other things. 

The Apostle Paul was great at starting conversations.  When I think about what Paul was like I picture him to be someone that was very well versed in the art of conversation.  Paul knew what to say and when to say it through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. 

I am reminded of the time Paul appeared in Athens and had the opportunity to speak to the Areopagus which was a place where people gathered to talk about new ideas.  We can read of what Paul said in Acts 17:22-31(ESV) which says,

"22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 
                                                                                                       

23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ¹'To the unknown god.'²What therefore you worship ³as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

24 ⁴The God who made the world and everything in it, being ⁵Lord of heaven and earth, ⁶does not live in temples made by man,                                                                              

25 nor is he served by human hands, ⁷as though he needed anything, since he himself ⁸gives to all mankind ⁹life and breath and everything.

26 And ¹⁰he made from one man every nation of mankind to live ¹¹on all the face of the earth, ¹²having determined allotted periods and ¹³the boundaries of their dwelling place,

27 ¹⁴that they should seek God, in the hope that ¹⁵they might feel their way toward him and find him. ¹⁶Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,

28 for ¹⁷"'In him we live and move and have our being';^bas even some of ¹⁸your own poets have said, "'For we are indeed his offspring.'^c

29 ¹⁹Being then God's offspring, ²⁰we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.

30 ²¹The times of ignorance ²²God overlooked, but ²³now he ²⁴commands all people everywhere to repent,

31 because he has fixed ²⁵a day on which ²⁶he will judge the world ²⁷in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and ²⁸of this he has given assurance to all ²⁹by raising him from the dead."

Paul started out by acknowledging that the people were religious because he noticed all of their idols that they worshiped.  They even had an altar with the inscription, "To the unknown god".  Paul used this to introduce the people who were listening to him to the True Living God.

The Lord God is the true living God.  The Lord is the Creator of everything we see and even the things we don't see.  The Lord is our Maker.  He made us.  The Lord loves us.

The Lord's desire is for people to come to Him and acknowledge the truth of who He is.  There are many people around us today that are very religious, but they don't have a relationship with the Living God.  That relationship is only available through a personal relationship through Jesus Christ whom God sent into this world to live a perfect and sinless life. 

Jesus is God's one and only Son and He sent Jesus to the earth on a rescue mission.  We have all sinned and have fallen short of God's standards.  Jesus died on the Cross for our sins and was raised to life three days later.  We must repent of our sins and turn to Jesus Christ and trust Him as our Lord and Savior. 

There is coming a day when Jesus will return to judge the world.  Those who are trusting in His finished work on the Cross will go to Heaven for all eternity.  Those who have rejected Him by denying that He is the Son of the Living God and have rejected His Salvation will go to a literal hell for all eternity out of the presence of the Lord.

Let's no longer cling to worthless idols that can't save us, but let us turn to the True Living God and His Son, Jesus Christ, if we haven't done so already. 

   Lord,

I uplift Your Name for You are the True Living God and there is no other.
Thank You that You sent Jesus into this world to save us sinners.
I pray that more people will come to know You in the coming days.
Lead us and guide us by Your Holy Spirit.
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen.