Romans 1:18-25 (MSG) Ignoring God Leads to a Downward Spiral
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.
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!
Truth is essential in our relationship with God. We cannot deceive God because he is the truth and, as believers, he looks for us to live in him—Immanuel God with us. To live any other way besides the truth would be to live a lie and it comes with horrendous consequences—finding oneself illiterate regarding life. Actually, many times it is the goodness of God that stands in-between his grace and our demands to have our own way. Jesus teaches he is the way, the truth, and the life with Father God, so we must be listening for his voice and willing to follow his guidance. Christ is our compass toward righteousness and if we want to live to worship the God who made us, we are free to do so. Conversely, if we desire to worship the god we create in our ignorance, we are free to do so. We will taste the results of our free will and choices. It really is a matter of choosing between right and wrong or truth and lies.
Prayer: Lord, I need you to provide my sense of direction each day; so, I am looking for your grace to guide me and your glory to fill me. I want your will; please be my Savior and my God. In Jesus’ name. Amen.