SOME NEW THING

 

Wednesday, July 12, 2023

 

SOME NEW THING

 

Acts 17:21-23

21 (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)

22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.

23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.

 

          Adam Clarke comments that “the itch for news, which generally argues a worldly, shallow, or unsettled mind.” Perhaps there is a fine line between philosopher and gossip. To put it another way, an open mind, one without an adequate filter, leaves one susceptible to many plausible errors. Without a STANDARD of truth, anything is considered.

 

          There is an essential arrogance (“what will this babbler say”) that accompanies a quest for something newer that prevents one from reaching a conclusion. It simply adds one more item to his list of unknowns. The result for the Athenians was idleness, boredom, and an insatiable thirst. Paul branded them as “too superstitious.” Here we see an all-inclusive ecumenism that was unsatisfying.

 

          The inscription “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD” was a testimony to self-condemnation and was an admission of ignorance rather than arrogant intellect. When all was said and done, there was something very important that they did not know.

 

          Have you found it? Do you know Him? Are you wandering in an ecumenical graveyard overlooking that one Stone of truth?

 

Dear Father, enable the minds of the searchers and questioners. Reveal yourself to them. AMEN