To an Unknown God

Acts 17:25 · Fresh Start: When Life Takes an Unexpected Turn

“Nor is God served by human hands, as though he needed something, since he is the one who gives life, breath, and everything else.” — Acts 17:25 (CEB)

The Athenians built an altar inscribed “To an Unknown God.” They covered their bases. If there was a deity they’d missed, they wanted credit for trying. It was a hedge, not a confession. But Paul saw something truer in that inscription than the Athenians intended. They were more right than they knew. The God they didn’t know was the only one who didn’t need their altar.

Every other god in Athens required something: sacrifices, rituals, attention, appeasement. But the unknown God, Paul says, doesn’t need to be served by human hands. This God gives life, breath, and everything else. The altar “To an Unknown God” was the most honest thing in Athens, because it admitted what none of the other altars could: we’re reaching for something we haven’t yet grasped.

We do this too. We build altars to what we think God wants: our productivity, our performance, our exhausting efforts to be enough. Paul says the real God doesn’t need any of it. The God you haven’t fully known yet is the one who has been sustaining your every breath while you were busy trying to earn it.

God who gives life, breath, and everything else, forgive us for acting as though you need our performance. Christ, you showed us that grace flows one direction, from God to us. Holy Spirit, help us receive today what we cannot earn. Amen.