God of the ages, make real Your promises in the challenges of this dear reader. In Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
"Are you willing to flee the coming wrath of God?" Such was the question asked of those who would join the Methodist Society. The question is attributed to John Wesley. It is a timeless question and a difficult question. It begs our response to the saving work of Jesus in our midst and in our lives. Paul warned of the wrath of God in the verses found in chapterone, 24-32. After his declaration of not being ashamed of Christ's Gospel, he gets impassioned about those who ignore or abandon the faith:
"24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading 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 degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons 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 and to things that should not be done. 29 They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 They know God's decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die—yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them.
Paul is angry at those who abandon the one, true, living, holy God, for practices of worship that involve other humans or images of animals. And he is saddened by those who so easily give in to their lusts and passions to the things of "impurity," and denegration of their bodies. It's as if Paul is saying, "People, we know the Truth! Why are we so easily giving in to a life, ready and willing to worship creatures rather than the Creator?" The consequences were terrible. Paul shares the list of those sins. God-given "natural intercourse" with both men and women exchanged for "unnatural" all in the name of passion for one another. Paul sees this as the carnal winning over the spiritual. They did not bother to consider what is pleasing to God so long as they themselves were pleasing themselves. The practices Paul shares now share the headlines of today's news or the scripts of today's movies and television shows. Actions, practices, and consequences of what Paul called "a debased mind; things that should not be done."
That word "debased," is an interesting and telling word. When we get off-base or even away from our base, terrible things can happen. Imagine this list belonging to your children or grandchildren: Wicked children. Evil grandchildren. Children who are never happy with what they have, always wanting more, especially what their friends have. Instead of contented children, we find them to be sneering at others, entertaining thoughts of murder, promoting strife, cheating others, spreading lies or the troubles of others, happy even to fabricate things. How sad to see those who would live lives that show a contempt and hatred towards God. Try as we can, Christians will always have a job of sharing and proclaiming the One who leads us away from such things. We are called to hold high a life that is Christ-centered and Christ-driven; a life that is a banner of life in the face of so much spiritual death.
How are you living? What examples of faith are you trying to instill in those around you, especially the little ones?
PRAYER: Merciful God, share with me forgiveness of my past actions. I repent of having been guilty of so many things on that list. Lead me lovingly away from that to a life that is the Gospel that shows what can be when we turn and trust in You. I ask this in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.
Eradio Valverde
