The God We Cannot Make

Tonight’s schedule includes Tiam Kim Sin (พิธีเตี้ยมกิมสิ้น), a ceremony involving the “activating” of hand-carved statues to be inhabited by gods. These spirits are believed to be deified ancestors or other gods that have been passed down for generations through each family or community.

Read — Acts 17:24–29

Paul says something wonderfully simple:

God made us.

…and we didn’t make Him! The God who made heaven and earth cannot ultimately be contained in something fashioned by human hands. And yet, this enormous Creator isn’t distant.

Paul says: “He is not far from any one of us.”

That’s our prayer tonight.

Pray for the people standing before sacred images. Ask the living God to reveal Himself as the Creator who made them, knows them and is already near.

And pray for us as Christians too, that we would never make Jesus seem like a religious object, a church building, a Western tradition or simply another religious system. May our lives show that He is alive.

Living God, reveal Yourself as the powerful Creator who is near.