Morning Devotion: Romans 1:18-22

In verse 17 of Romans Chapter 1 Paul speaks of the righteousness of God, but starting in verse 18 he begins speaking of the wrath of God.

Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

That is right, while God is love, He is holy and the righteousness of God requires that He judge ungodliness. Whenever I read this particular passage it is so evident to me that this accurately defines the world we are surrounded by today. Not only are the movements in society evil, they are trying to suppress the truth. It isn't enough that they ignore it, they want to shut it out and somehow try to invalidate it. Thankfully truth lies in our infinite God so that will never happen.

Rom 1:19-20 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Yet, while they try to suppress the truth, deep down they know God is real because God has made it known to them. It is not that they never understood, never had an opportunity to hear, or never had enough evidence. No, they have been shown, it has been made plain, and they have rejected it. Therefore they are without excuse.

Rom 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Evil men know God, they just choose not to honor Him and they do that by refusing to acknowledge His existence.  That in turn, effects their thinking. It has become pointless. Oh, they will consider themselves among the greatest "thinkers" of their day, but when you start with a premise that is false and refuse to even consider evidence that leads to the contrary, futility is the result. Their hearts, as well as their minds become darkened.

Rom 1:22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

Psalm 14:1 tells us, "the fool says in his heart there is no God." This passage is a reminder that we can't win over atheists by having the best data. They have already made up their mind to ignore anything that points to God. While it is important to have an answer for them, that answer has to include the Bible. Only the power of the gospel will actually save them. Debating will get you nowhere without it.

Unfortunately we live in a world saturated by people claiming to be wise and therefore we are surrounded by their foolishness. The most difficult part of parenting today is protecting our children from it. When my daughter is fascinated by the handiwork of God and wants to learn more about it we can't simply go to the library to check out books because they are full of the foolishness of evolution. We rarely go to the movies and while some of it is due to the expense, it's mostly because most movies promote an immoral and ungodly worldview. I can't even go to the store without having something opposing my worldview thrown in my face. Let us endeavor to not simply claim to be wise, but actually be wise. To do that we need to follow God. Not only on Sundays, not only when it's convenient, but every hour of every day.

Psa 111:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;

all those who practice it have a good understanding.

His praise endures forever!