Everybody Worships

<p>I recently visited Athens, Greece. Walking round its Ancient Agora&mdash;the marketplace where philosophers taught and Athenians worshiped&mdash;I found altars to Apollo and Zeus, all in the shadow of the Acropolis, where a statue of the goddess Athena once stood.</p> <p>We may not bow to Apollo or Zeus today, but society is no less religious. &ldquo;Everybody worships,&rdquo; novelist David Foster Wallace said, adding this warning: &ldquo;If you worship money and things . . . then you will never have enough. . . . Worship your body and beauty. . . and you will always feel ugly. . . . Worship your intellect . . . [and] you will end up feeling stupid.&rdquo; Our secular age has its own gods and they&rsquo;re not benign.</p> <p>&ldquo;People of Athens!&rdquo; Paul said while visiting the Agora, &ldquo;I see that in every way you are very religious&rdquo; (Acts 17:22). The apostle then described the one true God as the Creator of all (vv. 24&ndash;26) who wants to be known (v. 27) and who has revealed Himself through the resurrection of Jesus (v. 31). Unlike Apollo and Zeus, this God isn&rsquo;t made by human hands. Unlike money, looks, or intelligence, worshiping Him won&rsquo;t ruin us.</p> <p>Our &ldquo;god&rdquo; is whatever we rely on to give us purpose and security. Thankfully, when every earthly god fails us, the one true God is ready to be found (v. 27).</p>