SCRIPTURE:
“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.”
Acts 17:26-27
OBSERVATION:
In what I think is one of the most compelling short sermons or homilies in the Bible, Paul found opportunity to share about Jesus in Athens, Greece. The hotbed of intellectual verve and religious creation, The Greeks boast of their thousands of gods for whatever justification they bring to mind. A decadent, self-glorifying, prideful bunch.
Seeing a plethora of shrines to these so-called “gods”, Paul finds one “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD”, as though they still have untapped intellect waiting to be discovered then created in their own minds. A god, “just in case” they missed any.
Paul jumped at the opportunity and delivered the story of Yahweh and Jesus, the center of it all.
But this one section of what we take as gospel truth must’ve struck at least a little irritation.
That we are ALL created from ONE man and that we are ALL under a jurisdiction of something
beyond our device and explanation.
All nations. Created by God. And societies, and entire nations controlled by God as to their rise and fall. Really?..
Really.
APPLICATION:
For some reason this would not escape me, maybe being part-Hawaiian by lineage, and having friends who adhere, sometimes vehemently and without open mindedness, that they are native, sons of Haloa, products of Ku, Children of Hina.
All these which Paul declares are products of a prideful mind, that isn’t open to the idea that there is a singular Ke Akua, who Himself and ONLY Himself, causes nations to rise and fall, societies maybe even we in Polynesia will never know about.
Telling friends about Jesus as one who quantifies himself as being Keiki o ka Aina oftentimes caused me to be called a “false Hawaiian”, to be unworthy of having Hawaiian blood in my family (with my pure Hawaiian grandma being a devout Christ follower), and basically to be laughed at out of social circles.
But indeed, indeed, there were and are those who did say to me, “We go talk story more, I neva knew dat!” And indeed some have come to call Jesus their LORD and Savior.
We all have our Mars Hills to use to share Jesus with the world. We just have to be ready, equipped, and let Jesus go before us.
PRAYER:
Jesus thank You for showing me that like Paul, I’ll use as many opportunities to share about You, who transcends cultures with a message of hope that the world that is looking for. Amen.
