Romans 1:18-23 But God’s angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.
It appears that in our world we are getting exactly what we have been longing for and it is a downward spiral from what God wants for us. Purpose, dedication, and vision has been replaced with wandering, disobedience, and blindness and the end is not a good thing. For those who don’t know Christ this downward spiral is an illusion which keeps them imprisoned in their insatiable desire for their “own way.” Their desire to control everything within their grasp leaves no room for surrender to a higher power. They ignore the God-sized warnings all around us and turn a deaf ear to pure truth from God’s word. So their end…..will be tragic. Because in life, before long we find out there is a bottom to the pit!
But those who follow Jesus and commit their lives to Him will find grace and mercy, and purpose and direction will be the road they travel on, even in the midst of doubters and abusers of the truth. These people, these followers of the way, will continue to worship God with hearts poured out in praise and adoration to the one true life-giver, Jesus Christ. Society and the world will not have enough draw on them to convert them to a lesser commitment to the way, the truth, and the life. Namely Jesus Christ. A mediocre faith will not even be a blip on their life screen as they “dig in” and stay true to the gospel of Jesus Christ and are thus rewarded. Theirs is an upward movement that is opposite of a downward spiral and the end result is a life of purpose and commitment.
Which are you? The one following the ways of the world, or the one who is a true follower of Jesus Christ? It would probably be a good idea to make a commitment now to who you will be as the world continues in the downward spiral it is now on. Paul spoke to the Romans about the result of allowing the downward spiral to continue in the following verse. Romans 1: But God’s angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand. 24-25 So God said, in effect, “If that’s what you want, that’s what you get.” It wasn’t long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them—the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes!
Stand for the truth, but stand in the power of God!! He is in control and He has overcome the world.
The Pilgrimage continues….
David Warren
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