I don’t know if you were one of those kids that ate Elmer’s Glue... it may surprise you that I didn’t. Seriously, I didn’t! Elmer’s glue is good for kids (not for eating) but really doesn’t get the job done when we really need things bonded together. Now, we have Gorilla Glue and other glues which really get the job done.

 

Paul and his entourage are visiting cities, going to the synagogues, and sharing about the risen Christ. We read they visited several places in this chapter alone: Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens. There were two responses of the people: Believing and joining with Paul or attacking them.

 

Take a minute to grasp these verses:

 

‘“God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven  and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with  men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on  all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. Truly, these

times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to

repent,” Acts 17:24-30

 

After Paul shares, we see this about Athens, ‘However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.’ Acts 17:34

 

The New testament is written in Greek. The Greek word for ‘Joined’ here literally means ‘to glue, cement together, cleave or fasten together'. Not the Elmer’s Glue type but turn from the world and stick to the way of Christ. Jesus, His teachings, and His example should be the centerpiece of our lives, how we look at the world, and how we respond in the world. Are you more ‘joined’ to the world or ‘joined’ to Christ? If you are joined to Christ is that ‘joined’ more of an Elmer’s Glue type or are you cemented to Him? Good questions to ask ourselves and take to the Father in prayer.

 

- To Know Jesus. To Live on Mission.