Mmm... Paul was angry. He was in Athens - a city well known for its intellectual advancement. But my! The city was "a junkyard of idols". (Acts 17:15-34)
So Paul uses the multitude of shrines as a door to open up truth. He said, "while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you".
What a brilliant lead in to truth in the midst of so much evil! Paul could then teach about the "God who made the world and all things in it" and who "does not dwell in temples made with hands".
Paul even mentioned that their poets had spoken of this God, saying "For we also are His children." So he exhorts them all to repent of their false worship because a fixed day is coming when the true God will judge all people.
And the response? Well some sneered, but some men "joined him and believed"!
How important it is to look for opportunity to speak truth in the midst of rampant evil. Some will hear!
In Colossians 4:3-4, Paul urges "praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak".
Lord, equip us to look for that door of opportunity to speak Your truth and love.
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