'To an Unknown God'

India is full of worshipers. Faithful worshipers. They have given their lives to all kinds of gods and spirituality. I weep as I watch this video of the Hindu people bathing, praying and burning their dead at the Ganges River in Uttar Pradesh.

When the Indians meet the Creator and Savior of the world, the one and only God who is alive and active, listening, breathing, moving, loving... they will be the greatest worshipers the world has known. Pray for a shift to happen in the atmosphere of India. Pray for God to sweep through the nation in raw and powerful ways. Pray for the Indians in all of their different religions to come to the truth of the cross.

Paul preached so incredibly when he was in Greece, speaking with people who believed in countless gods.... (Acts 17)

So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way,  for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.

“He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.

“His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring. And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone.

“God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.”

When they heard Paul speak about the resurrection of the dead, some laughed in contempt, but others said, “We want to hear more about this later.” That ended Paul’s discussion with them, but some joined him and became believers.