Acts 17:22\u00a0<\/b>–\u00a0Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus\u00a0and said: \u201cPeople of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.\u00a023\u00a0For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:\u00a0to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship\u2014and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cPaul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus\u00a0and said: \u201cPeople of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0What is interpreted as very religious could mean that they acknowledge the existence of God and are seeking Him.\u00a0\u00a0Or it could mean that he was saying that they are superstitious and so they endeavor to \u201ccover their bases.\u201d We also see that in our times, we see those who want to \u201ccover their bases.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0People who dabble in the varied beliefs of the world.\u00a0\u00a0They don\u2019t want to offend any belief lest that is a real one.\u00a0\u00a0Not knowing a sure truth, they give respect to all beliefs.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Once, about 1980 or so, being rather new in the Lord, there was a co-worker who spoke with me about my beliefs and he shared his beliefs.\u00a0\u00a0The conversation remained open and calm although many of his points were what he believed and not based on the Bible, which he did not fully embrace.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At the conclusion of our conversation the man said to me, in a very positive way that he had formerly not thought about what was presented to him that day, but that he still had his own beliefs.\u00a0\u00a0He told me that he had enjoyed the conversation and he was glad that at the end of the conversation \u201cwe respect each other\u2019s opinions.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0I replied \u201cIt is true that I respect your right to have your own opinion, however I do not respect your opinion.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0A shocked expression came over his face.\u00a0\u00a0I continued \u201cYou see it would be against what I believe to respect what it is that you believe.\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t think that what you said has any merit in truth but is a commonly held error.\u00a0\u00a0What you believe opposes what I believe, therefore to respect what you believe is to disrespect the absolute truth of what I believe.\u00a0\u00a0So I respect your right to hold your belief, but to respect what you believe is to disrespect what I believe.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0The man left me somewhat shaken by what I said.\u00a0\u00a0Know that I still cared about this man, but I would not deceive him by compromising the fact that the Gospel is the only truth that leads to peace with God (John 14:6, Acts 4:12<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0First is my loyalty to God and my love for Him, and from that comes my love for others.\u00a0\u00a0To tell someone that I respect the error they believe is not to love that person.\u00a0\u00a0It is giving them a confidence in what they believe.\u00a0\u00a0Furthermore, it would be an elevating of myself to be in a person\u2019s favor and a usurping of the love, glory and acceptance of the glory that belongs solely to God.\u00a0\u00a0Family, this is no light consideration.\u00a0\u00a0I will not decrease the importance of God\u2019s Word solely so people like me.\u00a0\u00a0Too many in our day do this now so as to not to offend the sensibilities of the lost or immature in Christ.\u00a0\u00a0It is self-idolatry and a travesty against God.\u00a0\u00a0God forbid.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Let us not be as these Athenians who religiously and superstitiously cover their spiritual bases, but let us be confident and loyal to the Truth, the Son of God. To Jesus, the one and only Way to favor with God, be all glory and praise!\u00a0\u00a0Praise God!<\/p>\n
Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Numbers 6:24-26<\/b>\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Lord\u00a0bless you and keep you; 25\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0turn His face\u00a0toward you and give you peace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Acts 17:22\u00a0–\u00a0Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus\u00a0and said: \u201cPeople of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.\u00a023\u00a0For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:\u00a0to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,100,94,1874,17],"class_list":["post-1882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-john","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1882"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1883,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1882\/revisions\/1883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}