“Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.”— Acts 17:21 (ESV)
There is something almost unsettling about how easily we can lose an hour of our lives.
We pick up our phones to check a message or look something up. One scroll leads to another, and before we realize it, thirty minutes have passed, then an hour. We've chuckled, learned a few random facts, caught up on someone's vacation, watched a stranger cook dinner, and perhaps even listened to a heated debate about something that will have absolutely no bearing on our lives tomorrow.
And yet, somehow, we struggle to find fifteen minutes to open our Bibles.
It's not that we don't have time. We have simply become very good at giving our time to other things.
The more I think about our modern world, the more I am reminded of a fascinating encounter recorded in Acts 17.
Always Searching, Never Satisfied
When the apostle Paul arrived in Athens, he found a city overflowing with religious devotion, philosophical
discussion, and intellectual curiosity. The Athenians were fascinated by ideas, especially unfamiliar ones.
Acts 17:21 tells us that the Athenians and the foreigners living among them spent their time doing little else than telling or hearing something new. Doesn't that sound remarkably familiar?
Nearly two thousand years later, we carry the ancient marketplace of Athens in our pockets! Our phones offer an endless supply of new ideas, opinions, controversies, entertainment, and distractions. There is always another reel to watch, or another “breaking story” to discover.
And just like the Athenians, we can become so consumed with hearing something new that we neglect the truth that has been available to us all along.
Paul observed that the Athenians were extremely religious. Their city was filled with objects of worship, including an altar dedicated to an unknown god. They were surrounded by religion, yet they did not truly know the God who created them.
What a sobering thought. What an important warning for those of us who call ourselves Christians.
Surrounded by Religion, Yet Lacking Knowledge
It is entirely possible to be religious without truly knowing God.
We can attend worship every Sunday and participate in every church activity. We can believe wholeheartedly that God exists and that Jesus is His Son. But how much time do we actually spend getting to know Him?
How often do we open His Word simply because we desire to understand His character, His will, and His heart?
How often do we seek His wisdom when no one is watching, when there is no Bible class to prepare for, no question to answer, and no obligation to fulfill?
God's warning through the prophet Hosea is particularly striking: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6). Notice that God was speaking about His own people.
Their problem wasn't simply that they lacked information. They had rejected the knowledge of God. Their spiritual condition reflected a failure to take His truth seriously. Could we be in danger of doing something similar?
We may know the familiar Bible stories, recognize the popular verses, and understand the basic principles of Christianity. But if our knowledge never grows beyond what we learned years ago, are we truly pursuing the God we claim to love?
A relationship cannot deepen without attention. We understand this in marriage, friendship, and family. We know that loving someone means investing time in knowing them. Why would our relationship with God require anything less?
Information Is Not the Same as Wisdom
One of the greatest misconceptions of our age is that having access to information makes us knowledgeable, and being knowledgeable makes us wise. But Scripture teaches something very different.
Proverbs 1:7 reminds us that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.”
Proverbs 2:6 echoes that statement: “For the Lord gives wisdom, from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding.”
True wisdom is not measured by how much information we consume, how many opinions we can defend, or how many facts we can remember. True wisdom begins with recognizing God as the source of truth and humbly submitting ourselves to His instruction.
In 2 Timothy 3:7, Paul describes people who are “always learning but never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.” What a frightening possibility: to spend our entire lives learning about everything imaginable while neglecting the one truth that can save our souls!
We can become experts on every earthly thing under the sun, and yet remain spiritual infants when it comes to understanding Scripture. Perhaps the most troubling part is that we may not even recognize what we are missing! We feel informed. We feel occupied. We feel connected. But are we growing closer to God?
The Quiet Danger of Distraction
Not every distraction is sinful.
There is nothing inherently wrong with enjoying a funny video, reading an interesting article, watching a favorite television show, or spending time on social media. God has given us a world filled with things to enjoy.
But even harmless activities can become spiritually harmful when they continually crowd out what matters most. The danger is not always that we deliberately turn away from God. Sometimes, we simply become too distracted to turn toward Him.
We don't wake up one morning and decide that studying Scripture is no longer important. Instead, we tell ourselves we'll read tomorrow. We'll pray when things settle down. We'll begin that Bible study when life becomes less busy.
Meanwhile, tomorrow becomes next week, next month, and eventually next year. Our spiritual growth quietly stalls while everything else in our lives continues moving forward...and the world is more than happy to keep us entertained in the meantime!
Do We Really Want to Know Him?
Peter opens his second letter with a beautiful reminder that grace and peace are multiplied through the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord (2 Peter 1:2). He goes on to explain that God's divine power has granted us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him (verse 3).
Think about that for a second: The knowledge of God is not an optional addition to the Christian life. It is essential to our spiritual growth.
The best part is, God has not left us guessing about how to know Him! He has revealed Himself through His Word. 2 Timothy 3:16–17 teaches that Scripture equips us for every good work. Through it, God teaches, corrects, trains, and prepares us to live as His people.
Yet how often do we leave that precious gift unopened? We sometimes speak of wanting a stronger faith, greater peace, deeper understanding, or a closer relationship with God, while neglecting the very means He has provided to help us grow. Sure, we confess that we love God- but do our daily choices reflect a genuine desire to know Him?
Choosing What Matters Most
When Paul stood before the Athenians, he did not offer them another entertaining philosophy to add to their collection. Instead, he proclaimed the living God.
He pointed them away from their man-made objects of worship and toward the Creator of heaven and earth, the One who gives life and breath to all mankind. He called them to seek God and repentance, not to the latest news and gossip.
Paul’s message is just as relevant today. We do not need another distraction, another novelty, or another endless stream of information. We need to know the Lord.
This doesn't mean abandoning every form of entertainment or feeling guilty whenever we enjoy a little leisure. It does mean we need to honestly examine what captures our attention and what we have allowed to shape our hearts. Our time on earth is short, and we need to “make the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:16).
Maybe it means reaching for our Bibles before reaching for our phones in the morning. Maybe it means replacing a few minutes of scrolling with prayer, studying a passage of Scripture more deeply, or setting aside time each day simply to meditate on God's Word. Not because we are trying to earn His favor, but because we love Him and want to know Him better.
The Athenians were fascinated by what was new, but the truth they desperately needed was not found in the next interesting idea. It was found in the eternal God they did not yet know.
Just like the ancient Athenians, we live in a world that constantly demands our attention, promising satisfaction through endless entertainment and information. Yet none of it can nourish our souls the way God's truth can.
We can fill our minds with a thousand things and still leave our souls starving.
May we never become so busy learning about the world that we neglect to know the One who made it. May we never become so entertained by this temporary life that we lose sight of the eternal one...because when everything else fades, the truth of God will remain.