Only One God

Wednesday, October 28th, 2026

4:27 am

Good morning! Today I am in Acts 17:16-34. As Paul was waiting on Silas and Timothy to join him in Athens, Paul was deeply disturbed by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city. He went to the synagogue to reason with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles. And he spoke daily in the square to all who happened to be there. He also debated with some of the dominant philosophers there. When he told them about Jesus' resurrection, they began asking each other what he was talking about and asking where he got his strange ideas from. Saying that he seemed to be preaching about some foreign gods. They took him to the high council and asked him to tell them about this new teaching because he was talking about some strange things. Standing before the council, he told them that he noticed that they were very religious in every way, for as he was walking along he saw many shrines. And he noticed that one of the altars they had built had an inscription on it that said, "To an Unknown God." Paul tells them that the God he is telling them about is that God that they were worshiping without knowing. He is the God that made the whole world and everything in it. And because He is Lord over heaven and earth, He doesn't live in man-made temples, and human hands can't serve His needs. He has no needs. He is the one that gives life and breath to everything, and He satisfies every need. From one man He created all the nations on the earth. He knew before hand when nations would rise and fall, and He determined their boundaries. His purpose was for the nations to seek after Him and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him. Though He is not far from any of us. For in Him we live and move and exist. He tells them, as some of their poets have said, "We are His offspring." And since this is true, they shouldn't think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold, silver, or stone. He tells them that God overlooked people's ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now He commands everyone everywhere to repent or their sins and turn to Him. For He has set a date for judging the world with justice by the man He appointed, and He proved to everyone who this is by raising Him from the dead. Some of the people laughed at Paul in contempt when they heard him speak about the resurrection of the dead, but others wanted to hear more. When the discussion was over, some joined him and became believers.

Wow! Paul laid his message out completely. Starting where the people were at the time. Paul recognized that they were deeply religious, noticing that they worshiped several gods, including one they did not know. Starting there, Paul helped them understand who this one God was. Telling them everything they needed to know about Him. That He is the one that created everything and gave life to everyone. This God, that they built an altar for, was too great for any person to contain. He was not created by anyone and no one can serve His needs, because He does not need anything. This God cannot be contained, but yet He is close to everyone of us, for in Him we live, move, and exist. And now this God is not overlooking the people's ignorance anymore. Now He is calling all people to repent of their sins and turn to Him. The one and only God. Warning them that He has already set a date for when the world would be judged, and by who.

This is the message for everyone of us. God is not overlooking our ignorance of Him anymore because He has sent His messengers, like Paul, to go out and share the Good News with everyone. There is no excuse anymore for us to say there is no God. God has proven Himself time and time again, and He is still revealing Himself to us today. He is still sending His people out to share the Good News. To share His love. We have no excuse. God sees us. He knows our hearts. We cannot ignore that He is there. Like David states is Psalm 19, "The heavens declare the glory of God." And Paul tells the Romans in chapter 1, God's invisible qualities can be seen and understood from everything He has made. The people of Athens knew there was a God that they did not know, and Paul told them who that God was.

Like these people in Athens, we have no excuse for not knowing who God is. And also like the people of Athens, we too have built altars for idols that we have in our lives, but there is no other gods. Because the truth has been spoken to us, the Good News shared with us, it is our responsibility to repent of our sins and turn to God. Our Creator. Without Him we are nothing. Turn to Him and trust Him. He is right there waiting for you.