JULY 13, 2016

“The dark does not destroy the light; it defines it. It's our fear of the dark that casts our joy into the shadows."
― Brene' Brown

PSALM 10-12

David despairs over the fallen ways of man...

1Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore;

those who are loyal have vanished from the human race.

2Everyone lies to their neighbor;

they flatter with their lips

but harbor deception in their hearts.

ACTS 17:16-34

Paul preaches to the Greeks in Athens...

24“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’^b As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’^c

JOURNAL 

I love that Paul connects to the Greeks and explains that God set us up to reach out to him and find him for "we are his offspring." Paul is connecting with them in the universal desire to be connected to the creator and to others. This is inherent in our DNA...certain chemicals are released that confirm this calling in each of us. It is the beauty of how God created us to ultimately desire him and to desire community with others.

It is also true in the reverse...when we substitute physical things in the place of God, it ultimately leaves us empty and starving for connection. If we don't understand this then we become obsessed and addicted to practices that will never quench our thirst for God.

We become like those David discusses "lying to their neighbor, flattering with their lips but harbor deception in their hearts".

20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

 ~ EPHESIANS 3:20-21