Friday, October 4, 2019

Reach out and you will touch Me for I am not far from you.


Acts 17:27 New International Version (NIV)

27 God 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.

The Apostle Paul was speaking to a bunch of Greek philosophers on Mars Hill in Athens when he made this statement. This Bible verse is part of a discourse where Paul addresses a statue to an 'unknown god' and proceeds to tell all the listeners who God really is. I really like this verse and the next verse in Paul's proclamation of the gospel in the NIV Bible... 

Acts 17:27-28 
27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' (NIV)

Paul tells these dear pagan folks that God is so close to them that they can actually just reach out and they can touch Him for 'in Him we live and move and have our being'. The truth is that the universe does not contain God, God contains the universe! In Colossians 1, the Bible says that Jesus is the glue that holds everything together. Every proton, every electron, every atom... all held together by the very presence of Jesus.

As you ponder this promise today, may God give you the awareness of His nearness to you. He is not far off in some distant land, but He is closer than you could possibly imagine!  So reach out today and encounter the love of your Father that is with you wherever you go.

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