Knowable

2/10/2016

Acts 17.23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. – St. Paul

Apparently, the ancient Greeks in Athens had many deitic symbols of the gods they worshiped – so many in fact, that to cover all their bases, they had to put up a shrine to, The Unknown God. Paul took the opportunity to capitalize on their own words: The Unknown God. He explained to them that indeed God was unknown to them but that He would be known by them if only they would turn from all of their other gods and seek The Unknown God. If you’re going to admit to not knowing Him, let me help you…

Many people go through life knowing of God but not really knowing Him. In their minds they think the knowing of God is sufficient for them; God is “up there” and as long as He is, then there is some benefit to having the knowledge that He is. But God up there is not the same as God in here (point at your heart when you read those words).

God is truly, the Unknown God, to millions. It’s not that He doesn’t exist, it’s just that He is unknown. Some of that unknowing may be self-inflicted ignorance, and some of it may just be ignorance. It’s not that God doesn’t want to be known, and hasn’t gone out of His way to be known – just take a look at creation around us… It’s just that many simply see no need to know God on a personal basis.

God wants to be our Friend. God sees us differently than we see ourselves. God sees mankind as the pinnacle of His creation. God sees vast potential in each of us. God is the Greatest Resource in the Universe and He has availed Himself to us for that very purpose. But many are ignorant or suspicious of His motives: What’s God going to make me do? What’s God going to take from me? Will I have to go to the Congo? (yes, people actually ask that question.)

The reason God is unknown to so many is that He is unknown to many – no one has ever explained to them Who He is, and why He wants to be known. They simply look to the externals in life, and ignore, or try to stifle, the internals of life: the need to know and the desire to be loved.

A friend of mine posted a quote by Ravi Zacharias the other day: When you say there's too much evil in this world, you assume (by your own logic) there's good. When you assume there's good, you assume there is such a thing as a moral law on the basis of which to differentiate between good and evil. But if you assume a moral law, you must posit a moral Law Giver, but that's who you're trying to disprove and not prove. Because if there's no moral Law Giver, there's no moral law. If there's no moral law, there's no good. If there's no good, there’s no evil. What's your question?” On that basis alone, we ought to arrive at a conclusion of God. But He remains to millions, by their will, ignorance, and pride, unknown.

Like St. Paul, my job is to say, Well, since you obviously don’t know God, let me tell you about Him.

Father, help me to see those to whom You wish to reveal Yourself. May I be used to tell others about You, the Unknown God, that You are really not unknown, but knowable. Give me eyes to see and ears to hear, and words to say to make the Unknown, Known. Amen.