Romans 1:23–28 (ESV) —
23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
NOTE: God "gave them up" is stated three times in the descent of man. We have not evolved, we have devolved morally. The preceding actions state why, starting in verse 23:
- They exchanged the glory … of God for images. Essentially, we have made God small.
- We exchanged truth for lies. We have disregarded the truth of scriptures preferring our own destructive "truths."
- We did not acknowledge God. We chose to be our own gods and have chosen to disobey his commands.
This is the state of man. It will only get worse. There might be repentance but each time the descent is even greater. Will there be revival in the world or are we at the end of times? It is hard to imagine that things can get worse. So, what should we be doing? We need to be telling people about Jesus and the healing that he offers. We may not be able to change society any more, but we can offer individuals hope.
PONDER:
- Where do I stand -- with the culture or with God?
- What am I doing to tell others of the only hope they have, Jesus?
PRAYER: Father, help me to have conversation seasoned with salt, the good news of Jesus Christ.
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