Devotion 7

Romans 1:18-23

The Human Derailment

I suppose if I were to attempt to outline Romans chapter one, I would do it as follows:

Paul’s Person: Verses 1-2

Paul’s Passion: Verses 3-4

Paul’s purpose: Verses 5-7

Paul’s Prayers: Verses 8-12

Paul’s Plan: Verses 13-17.

There are undoubtedly other ways to outline this passage and I am not saying that mine is of some kind of perfect design. The Bible is of perfect design and generally divides itself naturally; however I am not perfect and often see things cross eyed. But at this point and for the purpose of this study I am sticking with what I mentioned above.

In verses 18-32, Paul’s focus now shifts to the reason why the gospel is needed. In my early twenties and thirties, I was able to spend a great amount of time in the outdoors. Old back packing trips and canoeing trips still hold a very special place in my mind. There is nothing like being in the wilderness either by yourself or with a few close friends. I have mostly hiked and packed in Missouri, Arkansas and Colorado. It never ceases to amaze me just how beautiful God’s creation is. It was also equally amazing to me that no matter how far I hiked, it was near impossible to find a significant portion of the wilderness that man has not scarred in some way. This may not be the same in other parts of the world, but man’s hand could be seen in some of the most remote areas that I ever travelled to on foot.

On one hand you have the picturesque mountains revealing the magnitude of God’s mighty hand in creation. You can see the trace of God’s fingers as he carved the valleys out of stone in the Rocky Mountains. I have been walking through seemingly untouched areas to only walk into a clearing and find huge wooden poles supporting power lines sixty feet in the air. I have drawn water from a clear mountain stream at ten thousand feet above sea level, to look over and see a McDonald’s cup bobbing behind a rock. I am not going to hop on the Green Peace soap box here, I am just saying that at one point in our history, God entrusted us with the care of his creation. Not for selfish reasons. God entrusted us with his creation because he wanted to teach us some things through it. In Genesis chapter three humanity, however, slipped off the rails and we are at this time still in the middle of a six thousand year train wreck.

Verse 18 and 19 says “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God has shewed it unto them.” God then provides one of the greatest keys to understanding him that is found in the Bible. “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.”

What a powerful passage. God made the things in this world in order to reveal himself and his characteristics to man. God’s desire was to make himself known to man that in turn man might make God known. The means by which he did this is found in verse 19 where God concludes that his own invisibility is clearly seen in the things that he has made. He made the natural to reflect the supernatural. Why would he do that you may ask? That we might make him known. We know him that others might know him. In other words, God reveals things to us in order that we might reveal those things to others. God’s planetary portrait reveals God’s person. What a great plan.

“Houston we have a problem.” Verse 18 begins with “For the wrath of God is revealed form heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” What on earth happened? I will tell you what happened. God gave us a great portrait by which to present himself to us and things were going fine until we got a hold of it. Then man, rather than glorify God through what he gave, decided to glorify themselves.  Verse 21 says “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as god, either were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” Our minds ran amuck and our hearts became darkened by the mire of our imaginations. We have a spiritual mental problem. Man can simply not control his mind. II Corinthians 10:1-10 provides some great insight into the battle over your mind. In the end, man considered himself to be more important than the God that made him.

The results of mans mental breakdown are manifest in verse 22 and 23. “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.” Man created his own system of beliefs by which he proclaimed himself wise and elevated himself to the likeness of God. He took what was uncorruptible and made is corruptible. In other words, he became so full of himself that there was no room left for the true God which had now been replaced by mans false idols. The remainder of the chapter spells out in great detail the current condition of man as a result of man’s decision of live in his own imaginary world and leave God out. We will get to that next time.

As a believer in Christ, it is important to remember that we still have the same tendencies as the rest of humanity. I want to encourage you today to take heed to II Corinthians 10:4-5. “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” If we fail to adhere to God in this area, we shall surely be derailed from his purpose as is revealed in the remainder of Romans chapter one.

Lord, may our thoughts begin with You.

Yu are the joy we seek.

You are the love we long to live,

You, any truth we speak.