Heavenly Father, thank You for the control given me in an earlier interaction. It is only because of Your influence in my life that I am who I am. All praise to You!

Romans 1:21-32 (<<click here to read the passage)

One thing that always grabs my attention when reading the Bible, is passages, like this one, that have a fairly long list of, as Paul puts it, “every kind of wickedness”. What I find amazing is that it includes things we would definitely put in there – like greed and murder – and other things we might put in there – like envy and deception (at least when others are envious of us and deceive us, though it bothers us a bit if we are the ones guilty of envy and deception…). But then, we see things that we feel aren’t really that bad. We feel those things should not even be noticed, things like quarreling, gossip, and those who (gasp!) disobey their parents! I’m sure some would just stomp their feet and say, “Why are those things even on that list?! I mean really, shouldn’t we get a pass on those kinds of things?”

And the answer is…no. No, we shouldn’t. Sin. Is. Sin.

But when we read verse 31, things really hit home.

They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. NLT

Now Paul is messing with things of which we are probably guilty but would rather no one know about. Just a shot in the dark here, but what goes through our minds when we see a panhandler standing at a busy intersection where they know people are going to be stuck waiting for the light to go green? And their signs, written on scrap cardboard, have words like “homeless”, “veteran”, “out of work”, “anything helps”, and a “God bless” scribbled on there for good measure.

Are the first things we think, “Man, I understand where they’re coming from…” or “I’ve thought before, that I should give them something.” “God has been so merciful to me so many times, I really should help…”?

They refuse to understand,
………break their promises,
…………are heartless,
……………and have no mercy…

We judge. We assume. We stereotype. We defend our reasons for doing nothing. Or maybe we’re just afraid…

Lord Jesus, we truly have no excuse regarding any of these things. From beginning to end, if we are honest with ourselves…sin. is. sin. It may not be easy to fess up. And in reality, on a lot of fronts, we are incapable of righting ourselves. But if we would just stop…and think about it, You know that is the case. But You also know that we can be conquerors of it all if, and only if, we rely on You. We are weak. You are strong. We have a bent to sin. You are the means to pull us back into alignment with Your will. We are guilty of being deep in the mix of things that are not of You. But again, You are the means for making us holy – pulled out of the mix and set apart for Your use. Help us we pray. Amen.

Sept 27th, 2022, Tues, 12:52 pm