Experience: S2 - Day 31

The Risk Of Rejection

Acts 17:22 So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, 23 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.

Recently, my son and daughter went to see a movie they had waited for release.  The next day, their mom and I were talking to them when we asked what they thought about the movie.  My daughter replied and said, “I pulled a dad.” We asked what that meant, and she said, “After the movie, all I could talk about were the spiritual implications she saw in the story.”

I both laughed and welled up with pride.  It’s true.  Since my teenage years, I have often watched movies and read stories, looking for the thread of the gospel story in them.  You see, I believe that the gospel story is written deep inside all of us, and it comes out whether we know that story or not.  So, from that perspective, I have a tendency to believe that all good stories we’re drawn to reflect that gospel story inside of us, or at least our hunger for it, even if we’re not believers or even know the story.

One time, my wife and I were watching a movie that I had hoped would be better than it was.  Most of the film was dark, too dark for me, and at times, I considered walking out simply because those things weigh on me in a way that I’m sensitive to.  But then, all of a sudden, at the end of the movie, there was a moment where the protagonist made a decision to take the blame for something they didn’t do, all to save the other characters in the story.  It was a gospel moment!  Though Jesus hadn’t done anything wrong, he took on the weight of our wrongs to save us.  

When this part happened in the movie, my nonverbal language told my wife what had just happened.  She leaned over to me and said, “You saw it, didn’t you?  The gospel moment?” I said, “Yes, ma’am, finally!”

I share this because this is what I think Paul did in Athens.  As he walked around the city, as he observed their culture and listened to their stories, he did so with a lens of the gospel story.  He was trying to find a way to connect the dots between their lives as they had been and their lives as they could be with Christ.  When he saw the idol to the unknown God, he thought, “Aha, that’s it!  That’s how I’ll try to crack that door open to tell them the gospel story.”. And so Paul simply takes something they are familiar with, and tries to connect it to the gospel.  It’s not only brilliant, it’s the best chance to share the gospel with people who don’t know it yet.  Get to know them, then try to help see how God is already at work in their lives and in the world around them.  

That’s our job, to help people see God more clearly, and just like God did when he came to this earth and became human, we need to understand the people were talking to as much as we can.  Then, we take that risk and try to help them see Jesus.  

Questions:

1. What are some of the ways you see God at work in the world around you on a daily basis?
2. What could you do today that might help you be more aware of all the different ways you can hear from and learn about God in your everyday life?
3. Next time you watch a movie, or read a book, as God to help you see His story in that story.