February 10th, 26:Leviticus 13-14; Acts 17; Daily Bible in a Year

Welcome to the Daily Radio Bible, friends! In today’s episode, Hunter invites us on a journey through Leviticus 13 and 14, where we hear about the intricate laws around skin diseases and purification in the Old Testament, and then into Acts 17, where Paul boldly proclaims the good news of Jesus to the curious and skeptical philosophers of Athens.

As your Bible reading coach, Hunter helps us see how both ancient rituals and the early church’s message of Christ’s love point us to a God who is present and at work in all people, whether they realize it yet or not. Alongside the scripture readings, you’ll hear reflections on opening the eyes of our hearts to God’s boundless love, and prayers asking for peace, hope, and the grace to live knowing we are already embraced by God.

It’s a reminder that wherever we are—whether in Portland, New Jersey, Houston, or across the world—God’s love and presence are already with us. So grab your Bible, settle in, and let’s walk together through today’s passages, discovering more of the One in whom we live and move and have our being.

TODAY'S DEVOTION:

They called him a babbler, a teacher of strange things. That’s what they said of Paul when he appeared before the philosophers of Athens. How is it that even the most enlightened among us can hear the good news of the gospel and end up interpreting it as babble? “What’s this babbler trying to say with these strange ideas he’s picked up?” God reveals God. Ours is to participate with God who reveals himself, the God who’s already at work.

Paul knows this. That’s why he looks out over all the people of Athens and he says, you are already living and moving and having your being in God. He’s already right here. He’s already with you. You just don’t know it yet.

I’ve come to tell you who he is, to tell you how good he is, how he has already purchased your freedom and the life that you so deeply desire. The gospel is the good news that God has come to us in our blindness and opens our eyes to behold who he is. It’s a declaration of what is and what has been done. When our eyes are open, we see that we are his children and we did nothing to bring that about, that God was always at work in my life long before I had any clue. This God who loved me has loved and embraced the whole world. He’s looked upon the whole human race like a good father looks upon children he loves.

The world doesn’t know it yet, but that’s what’s true. To many, it all sounds like babble because they’re blind. They’ve bought into a lie of separation. We don’t think God is for us. We’re blind to the God who loved us before we even knew him. But God opens eyes, and God reveals himself, and he’s come to let the whole world know that they are loved.

We, like Paul, are invited to see what God sees, to participate and proclaim this good news in Athens, in Portland, in New Jersey, Houston, all around the world. He’s already there. People are living and moving and having their being in him. He’s opening their eyes. He’s showing everyone, ordinary people like you and I. He’s showing all of us. He’s making himself known.

Do you hear him? Do you hear what he’s saying to you? Or does it all just sound like babble? My prayer is that the eyes of your heart will be opened to see the depth, the length, the width, the height of God’s love for you.

That’s a prayer that I have for my own soul. That’s a prayer that I have for my family, for my wife and my daughters and my son. And that’s a prayer that I have for you. May it be so.