Maybe it's just me, but Do you ever worry that sometimes we’ve got loads of answers to questions no-one is asking?
I think Paul provides some encouragement to point us in the right direction.
He was an inspiring guy, some people even call him ‘the man of vision’. He had a lot of visions: a vision of Christ, a missionary vision, a warning vision, visions of encouragement and even a vision of paradise. You can read about these in Acts. When Paul went to Athens, he certainly carried a vision with him: to share the gospel and reach the people of the city.
One of the things I love about Paul’s time in Athens is that he goes to the people. I think we can learn a lot from that approach. During my time at uni, I spent quite a lot of time wondering why people didn’t come to our events but I have to ask myself: how many of their events did I go to? Paul knew that people in Athens loved to talk and debate the latest ideas so he went to the place that most of this chin wagging occurred: the market place. He begins to understand how people think and communicate and what questions people are asking.
Paul engaged with the people and intrigued them with new ideas. He obviously got on their wavelength and provoked enough interest to be invited to the council. There were lots of religions and ideas around in Athens and the council of the Areopagus was the place that heard all these and decided what it was acceptable for people to believe.
I think the inspiration in Paul’s message to the Areopagus was that he identified a key question in the community: who is the unknown God? Paul picked up on this during his time spent in the city when he came across a shrine with an inscription to this mysterious deity. Before the council, he announces that he has the answer and he’s going to tell them who this unknown God is. A few people respond and become followers that day.
I wonder what the key questions are in our communities and friendships. What questions are the people around us asking? Am I lovable? What career path shall I choose? What is my destiny? How am I going to get out of debt? Do people like me? You will know better than me but I’m convinced that with God’s guidance we can provide people with insight. This doesn’t necessarily mean having all the answers, but as followers of Jesus we can offer a unique Kingdom perspective on these questions, love them through the challenging times and point people towards Jesus.
