The Slippery Slope. Romans 1.24-28

The theme of Romans is the righteousness of God, but in order to realize the gift of salvation, man must first realize his moral state--he is a sinner. He is a sinner in need of grace and redemption. As he starts, Paul points his finger at the sin of the Gentiles primarily:

Therefore,

although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were
darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and
exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images…

God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 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.

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.
Romans 1.24-28

The slippery slope to moral decline . . . do you see it in the passage? Man knew God, but he chose not to honor him as God. Man used God’s gifts, though he didn’t thank or praise God for them. As a result, man had an empty mind and a darkened heart.1 Then, he became man the philosopher, but his empty wisdom only revealed his foolishness, and led him further away from God.

“They exchanged the truth of God for a lie…” that he is his own god. Choosing to serve himself rather than the Creator, man gave himself over to self-indulgence. Paul then goes directly toward the rampant sin of the day in Rome—homosexuality—to which “God gave them over,” permitting them to go
deeper into their sins and reap the consequences.

We too are immersed in a culture that has ‘exchanged the truth of God for a lie.’ We live in a day where SELF is the most important thing, and as in first century Rome, it sets up the slope to moral decay. Why? Because glorifying self before God establishes unspoken permission to indulge one’s self—

‘if it feels good, do it’—whatever IT is. When the truth of God is exchanged for a lie, truth becomes relative rather than absolute. The serpent raises his head again and says, ‘Go ahead…for at the moment you indulge, you can become like God.’

Hey, that reminds me of ‘The Secret’—and Rhonda Byrne’s Law of Attraction, New Age thinking repackaged and mass produced. People went mad for it—books and DVDs flew off the shelves; Christians
were fooled to thinking it was just good positive thinking material. Beware. According
to the proponents of the law of attraction, we are all “incarnations of
God.” We are all our own gods, able to create our own reality, able to
control our own destiny. This lie is not a secret, and it is nothing
new. Satan’s primary temptation has always been to obtain knowledge and
thereby to become like God, “For God knows that when you eat of it your
eyes will be opened, and you will be like God…” (Genesis 3:5)2 Ah…’sound familiar?

The choice: HONOR GOD or GO YOUR OWN WAY

Removing God from the right place in our lives,

choosing not to worship him as God,

replacing him with ourselves . . .

comes with dire consequences--

he will give us what we want.

He lets us have our own way,

‘leads us further from him

away from righteousness,

and into separation.

The slippery slope – be aware.

But never forget—

In the beginning, God …

In the end, God.

Christine

Sources: 1) Warren Wiersbe 2) Gotquestions.com and