Romans 1:24-32 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Romans 1:24-32. Let’s go!
Romans 1:24-32 (NIV)
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
25 They exchanged the truth of 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 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 indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to 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 are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
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.
On verses 24-32: Have you ever been ripped off? Have you ever exchanged something incredibly valuable for something that turned out to have little or no value?
In Romans 1:24-32, Paul talks about a terrible exchange that takes place when we go from worshiping God to worshiping created things. We exchange the truth of God for a lie (verse 25). We exchange the promise of healthy relationships and sexuality that are consistent with God’s Word for relationships and sexuality that are inconsistent with God’s Word (verse 26-27). We exchange having our minds filled with the knowledge of God for a depraved mind that’s filled with greed, envy and hate (verse 28-30). We exchange wisdom for foolishness, love for hate, and mercy for condemnation (verse 31). And the worst part of all: though we know we’re being ripped off, we don’t care and in fact encourage others to follow us in our foolishness (verse 32). This is what happens when we exchange a life with God for a life without God; in the end our heart toward God becomes hard and we become full of ourselves.
But the good news is: we have a way back through Jesus Christ. God saw how we were ripped off, so He made His own exchange: He exchanged His Son Jesus Christ for sinners like us. When Jesus Christ died on the cross in our place, Jesus took all of our sins and gave us His righteousness. He took our shame and gave us His glory. He took our separation from God and gave us His relationship with His Father. He took our punishment and gave us His right as a child of God whom God sees as righteous, blameless and holy. Because He loved us, God allowed Himself to be ripped off so that we could be restored.
Father, I pray that I would always worship You my Creator and not created things. I pray that my heart would always be soft and humble before You and Your Word. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
