Altar Inscriptions

“For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown, I am going to proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands…and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each of us. For in him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:23-28

Paul could have been speaking directly to me four years ago. I grew up attending church every time the doors opened at the instruction of my parents. I was consistently in ‘temples built by hands’ but altars could also be found in the temple of my heart with the same inscription… TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. God determined in 2006 that He would make a grand appearance in my life in such a way I couldn’t deny His presence. The times and places set for me were family illnesses on three fronts. Through the adversities of sickness I had to seek God and reach out for comfort, guidance and His provisions.

Although I found God in an intimate way through these experiences the irony is that He was never far away. He lived in and through me years ago as I attended church after church throughout the course of my life. The difference then was that I confined Him to temples built by hands instead of temples built in hearts. I am much more comfortable living and moving around in Him as He determines in my life.

The inscription on the altar in my heart now reads: TO AN UNWAVERING GOD WHOM I KNOW AND SERVE.