Acts 17:22-23 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Aeropagus and said "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 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. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you."
And that is exactly what Paul does.
The men of Athens were just covering their bases. They had a god for everything.They built an altar or a temple for each and every god for everything and just in case they missed something, they created the unknown god.
I am not sure we would have that problem, today. Just look on the internet and you can find most any god feasible. Did you know there is a tribe that worships Prince Philip? That there is another religion based on Star Wars called Jediism? Every god has a name nowadays.
The issue today is not that one does not know the name of a god, it is that many do not even know they have made the god which they are worshipping. But I would contend that any thing that commands the top priority in our lives has become our god.
For some this is their job. The majority of moments are spent pleasing the demands of the job, working up the ladder of success. Families are neglected. Our own health takes a back seat at the altar of our job.
Be it money, addictions, family, or even good works...if these things take priority they become our god.
Some even make their church their god. Figure that one out.
We all have a god. We should all have God.
What I have noticed when people serve other gods than God is that every other facet of life declines and takes a back seat to the god. Families fall apart or become dysfunctional. Relationships are strained. Jobs are lost. When serving a god there is nothing left for anything else.
But when we choose to serve God, he supplies us the means to not only enjoy everything else but to have those things in a much better way. Servants of God become better Fathers and Husbands. Servant of God become better employees and employers. Servants of God become better managers of money and resources.
Every god asks us to give all we got. Even Christ says we must take up our cross and follow him (Mark 8:34-35). Only serving God gives us the promise of "life to the full" (John 10:10). This is not a promise of riches untold, the best car, the corner office of the corporation. This does not guarantee a trophy wife, perfect kids, or a stress-free existence. He promises a full life, meaning putting God first allows us to have the job, the family, the meaningful relationships, the purpose, the joy and the love without sacrificing one over the other.
Serving God expands our ability to live life. Serve any other god and it minimizes what we could be and could attain.
The following words of Christ are not a threat but a promise:"But seek first [God's] kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well." (Matthew 6:33)
Inherently all of us know the important things in life. Serving God brings those things to bear.
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