Your Mars Hill

September 3

The Apostle Paul had a driving passion—to serve his God. Prior to his conversion to Christ, he evidenced complete devotion to the faith of his fathers, to Judaism. In fact, he was so driven by his conviction that the integrity of his religious persuasion must be maintained that he persecuted early followers of Christ (Acts 9:1-31).

Once he met Jesus, Paul was determined to preach the good news to everyone who would listen to him. The Book of Acts chronicles his outreach to Jew and gentile alike, and perhaps his boldest proclamation of the truth of Christ was at Mars Hill.

Paul was deeply stirred within his spirit by the idolatry he found in Athens. This city that was the hub of culture in the Roman Empire was steeped in the worship of false gods. Rather than being intimidated by this fact, however, Paul was emboldened by it. He used their blind endeavor to appease whatever unknown god may exist (Acts 17:15-33) as a springboard to his expounding of the Gospel of Jesus to them. At Mars Hill he addressed their stab at placating whatever god they may not have thought to worship by saying, “…whom you ignorantly worship, I declare unto you.”

As he expounded the truth of the Living Christ to them, many were converted but some mocked him. Many of those not persuaded were intrigued and arranged a time to hear him again. This encourages us in our witnessing to believe that those who remain unconvinced will reconsider the matter. We must realize that the seed of truth we plant will perhaps be nurtured by another. As Paul stated clearly in I Corinthians 3:4-6, “…who is Paul? Who is Apollos? One planted, one watered, but God gave the increase.” Ministry is sometimes a joint effort that always needs God’s input.