The Next New Thought
Acts 17:16-21
One of the comments my husband has often makes about me is that I am constantly searching after the next new thought. He's not wrong. I would have fit in well with those Athenians who spent their time telling or hearing something new! But let me say, that's not necessarily a good thing! It can become a fixation or an idol fairly quickly. And if you are always looking for the next new thing you are probably not committing to any of it!
Paul arrives in Athens to find that they have left nothing up to chance when it come to spiritual matters. There are statues to every imaginable god. This particular characteristic "provokes" Paul's spirit. But, this constant searching for the next new thought does open up a tremendous opportunity. The people actually ask Paul to tell them about Jesus! What a wonderful thing. Someone invites you to share the faith. It's a dream come true for most Christians.
Where looking for the next new thought can be of help to us is when we turn that to a constant curiosity about the Lord. He is ever fresh and revealing something that we've not seen before. That doesn't mean He is changing for He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. But that doesn't mean I know it all! He is so complex and intriguing that I will never run out of things to learn about Him. He can be the focus and center of that drive for the next new thing. In Revelation 4 there is a description of the scene before the throne of God.
Revelation 4:8
And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”
Taking a little interpretive liberty, I have to admit this description has always intrigued me. Just imagine these creatures who exist solely to worship the Lord. They are covered with eyes. I imagine them bowing down before God then rising up to open all those eyes and see something they hadn't noticed or known before and suddenly they have a fresh new reason to worship and praise Him. This idea fills me with wonder. So maybe looking for the next new thought isn't such a bad thing after all.
16Now
while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him
as he saw that the city was full of idols.
17So
he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the
marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.
18Some
of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said,
“What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher
of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.
19And
they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this
new teaching is that you are presenting?
20For
you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what
these things mean.”
21Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who
lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing
something new.One of the comments my husband has often makes about me is that I am constantly searching after the next new thought. He's not wrong. I would have fit in well with those Athenians who spent their time telling or hearing something new! But let me say, that's not necessarily a good thing! It can become a fixation or an idol fairly quickly. And if you are always looking for the next new thing you are probably not committing to any of it!
Paul arrives in Athens to find that they have left nothing up to chance when it come to spiritual matters. There are statues to every imaginable god. This particular characteristic "provokes" Paul's spirit. But, this constant searching for the next new thought does open up a tremendous opportunity. The people actually ask Paul to tell them about Jesus! What a wonderful thing. Someone invites you to share the faith. It's a dream come true for most Christians.
Where looking for the next new thought can be of help to us is when we turn that to a constant curiosity about the Lord. He is ever fresh and revealing something that we've not seen before. That doesn't mean He is changing for He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. But that doesn't mean I know it all! He is so complex and intriguing that I will never run out of things to learn about Him. He can be the focus and center of that drive for the next new thing. In Revelation 4 there is a description of the scene before the throne of God.
Revelation 4:8
And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”
Taking a little interpretive liberty, I have to admit this description has always intrigued me. Just imagine these creatures who exist solely to worship the Lord. They are covered with eyes. I imagine them bowing down before God then rising up to open all those eyes and see something they hadn't noticed or known before and suddenly they have a fresh new reason to worship and praise Him. This idea fills me with wonder. So maybe looking for the next new thought isn't such a bad thing after all.
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