One of my favorite verses in the
Bible is "For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your
own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’ {Acts 17:28} The context
of this verse is the apostle Paul’s speech to the people of Athens regarding
their worship of many gods, including the ‘Unknown God.’ It is this unknown God
that Paul seeks to introduce them to.
It is only by knowing the one true
God that we can in all fullness experience abundant life and pass it on to
others. “I came that you might have Life. And to have it abundantly.” {John
10:10} The word ‘enthusiasm’ comes from two Greek words, en and theos. Theos is
the Greek word for God. 'enthusiasm' literally then means, ‘full of God’ or ‘God
within.’ I find that profound. For me, this means that without God, I can’t be
truly enthusiastic in anything! I can have a shadow of it perhaps, as we are all
Gods creation, but I cannot have true enthusiasm, just as the people of Athens had no true understanding of the Unknown
God, but instead worshipped and served empty, manmade gods of stone.
In my writing, I feel this verse
keenly. It is in God that my writing lives and moves and it is in God that I
can have true inspiration and enthusiasm to share the words that He gives me.
Even in writing a non-christian based article, I can still seek for my writing
to honor Him and believe that He ministers in any way that He sees fit through
it.
We truly are God’s offspring. It is
an amazing thought that a part of God’s ingenuity and creativity abides in us
and our words.
We don’t have to know everything
about writing as we often think we do, and sometimes those things can just end
up being our searching out other gods and a means to not have to depend on and
get to know how God wants to truly move uniquely through us. I don’t know where my
writing journey will lead me in the future but I do know that God, who was once
described by Paul as the Unknown God, wants to be known by me and is the one
who leads me. That is more than enough for me.
I also find the root of enthusiasm fascinating and quite exciting!
ReplyDeleteIt really is! It is something I'd learned years ago and it has always stuck with me. I definitely needed a dose of enthusiasm to write this blog so when that came to me it was a gift from God. I also love how Paul mentions the poets; that verse does sound very poetic :)
DeleteHi Gloria! I always find a golden nugget when I read your posts. This time I caught my own enthusiasm for my writing. Part of a line in your last paragraph notes, "We don’t have to know everything about writing as we often think we do..." That line jumped out at me. I was caught up with at my stage in life, I have so much to learn about writing. I have caught your enthusisam to concentrate on the act of writing. Thank you my friend!
DeleteThanks again for the encouragement Alan. And I'm glad you found a nugget that encouraged you too.
DeleteI also appreciate this passage of Scripture when Paul is speaking to the people of Athens. We can "reach out and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being." Therein lies our enthusiasm, Gloria. Thanks for sharing this. If we are in God's circle or he is this close to us, he knows what's in our mind and our heart. Perhaps we can share our pen or computer with him. Wow! Thanks for this great reminder. Nuggets, for sure, as Alan says.
ReplyDelete