Exchange The Lie For The Truth
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(25) They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. (26) Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. (27) In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. (28) Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. (29) They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, (30) slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; (31) they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. (32) Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.’ (Romans 1:25-32)
Paul, in his day in the mid-1st Century AD, saw firsthand in his travels throughout the Roman world the depravity the people had. The Roman Emperors were very perverse in their lives, and many were open about it. Even before this, we find Herod shacking up with his brother’s wife Herodias and perhaps a desire for his niece, Herodias’ daughter Salome. The Romans and the Greeks before them had accepted homosexuality and perversions as ‘normal behavior’, though it was very abnormal and unhealthy.
Nevertheless, Paul observed that these depraved or reprobate people had rejected the Truth of Christ and embraced the Lie of Satan; in embracing the Lie, it became their ‘truth’. In doing this, they forgot the Truth and ignored the Truth. This spread into other areas of sin; if God can be ignored over lust, He can be ignored over the sanctity of life. What Paul saw then we see today. Perversion, abortion, rejection of parental guidance, and people boasting of their embrace of the Lie. Their leaders of the day ‘approved this message’ of the Lie, as our leaders today do the same. As stated before, the worse lie told is the one you tell yourself, believing it and embracing it.
What can we do about this? First, do not fear to speak the Truth and hold firm to the Truth of Christ. Find those leaders who embrace the Truth of Christ and support them. Most importantly, know that society as a whole can only change through the will and the actions of the Lord. Our part is to have, as Pastor Ron says, a focus on our ‘number 1’, and have an open dialogue with them, to have them begin to think and become more curious about the Lord. Pray for them to be open to the Lord and to His Word.
Continue to read your Bible and stay in Fellowship so that your knowledge grows, so that you can either answer questions or know who can help answer the questions you may not know. Focus on the ‘one’, and that ‘one’ becomes a multitude if everyone does their part. God, however, is the one who Saves, and He may be the one who is rejected by your ‘one’, not you – so don’t get discouraged and don’t give up! All things (including changing a ‘reprobate’s mind) are possible with God!
