Anchor Devotional

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Celebrate Each Breath

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and … gives all men life and breath and everything else.” Acts 17:24-25

When Paul was in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols and altars to false gods. One altar even was inscribed with the words, “to an unknown god.” Paul seized the opportunity to proclaim to the town philosophers the God who is known, who is named, and who made heaven and earth. Some marveled at the teaching; others were skeptical.

Paul went from breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples (Acts 9:1), to praising God for each breath of life He’d granted. You can celebrate today that the Lord is the One who breathed life into you, sustains you, and loves you. Since I’ve shared with others in my retirement community that we have much to celebrate in Jesus, a fellow resident here returned from a hospital stay and told me he was “celebrating breathing.”

Celebrate God’s goodness along with psalmists, prophets, disciples, and many others. Declare with the beaten-down but hopeful man Job that “the Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life” (33:4).

SCRIPTURE FOCUS
Acts 17:24-28

INSIGHT
We worship the God who gives breath to all living creatures. “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD” (Psalm 150:6).

THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Isaiah 14-15
Psalm 78
John 19

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