A passage that God has used over and over again in my life is Acts 17:24-28a:
“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 human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 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. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’”
God is Personal
The power, vastness, and creativity of God is so clear in these verses and, yet, so is his generosity, kindness, life, and love. When I read these verses, I’m reminded of how big he is but also of how personal he is.
This powerfully magnificent God chose “not to live in temples built by human hands.” Instead, he made us temples within whom he dwells (1 Corinthians 3:16). The worth he has ascribed to us, his beloved creation, is difficult to imagine.
“God who made the world and everything in it” lives in you. Isn’t that amazing?
God Lacks Nothing
I want to point out another remarkable aspect of this verse. Look at verse 25:
“And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.” (emphasis mine)
When you become a believer, you haven’t been called to a life of serving God as if he is lacking in anything. No, the God who made you is perfect and lacking nothing in and of himself. He’s invited you into a deeply intimate relationship of trust and dependence.
How would you describe your relationship with God?
What would it look like for you to serve not out of obligation but out of an awareness of his life in you and a willingness for him to serve through you?
Ask him to open your eyes to see the ways he’s inviting you to depend on him as he serves through you. Are you willing to live aware of his Life in you, and are you available to him to live through you — no matter what?
(This blog was originally published 1/13/2017)
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