Annoyed. Convited. Affected.

Sunlight glinted off the golden face of the fish idol. It's lips were parted like it was angry and about to swallow it's prey.

Where did men come up with these things?

Paul felt that familiar annoyance and anger build inside him like a bubbling volcano about to explode. He was so sick of seeing this garbage, the devils handiwork overlaid with gold, silver, and jewels. He had been sick of it ever since the very first day.

He dodged a man in a robe cutting himself and proclaiming the rituals of his idol to the people. Weaving in and out of the crowd, Paul came to his spot. A grassy spot empty of all idols. He sat down on his rock and started to teach about Jesus. Teach. Preach. Reason. Sometimes argue. But the people weren't easily convinced. So many of them had spent their lives worshiping false gods, so the introduction of yet another god wasn't received as their first encounter with the One True God.

But Paul wouldn't stop. He couldn't stop. How could he ignore a city full of idols and lost souls? What kind of witness and warrior for Christ would that make him? No, he would fight. He would teach. He would reason until his last breath.

Based on Acts 17:16-17

"Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there." Acts 17:16-17

This.

THIS.

Why this? Want me to stop saying this? (Imagine me wildly pointing at this verse, too. Helps the image.) This is awesome. Paul was bothered by the city full of idols. It irritated him. It convicted him. He had to do something about it. He couldn't just ignore this city of idols.

What about us? It's so easy to just ignore all the junk going on around us. All the idols that people worship now. Only now, not everybody is bowing to a golden statue. Now we make TV, celebrities, games, books, sports, food, money, drugs, and relationships our idols.

And we just exist in that everyday. Never saying a word. Never so much as shuddering. We coexist.

God's people SHOULD be affected by false idols and whatnot in the world. Why? Because when we are affected, we do something.

I am so guilty of just looking the other way, but it's time I stopped. It's time we all stopped. We need to do something. We need to be affected.
   
"If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."
2 Chronicles 7:14

V. Joy Palmer