MY WAY
God has granted me a lot more than I give Him credit for. If you will for just a moment forget about the minor detail that He created us and the planet on which we live and the universe that gives us pause. Leaving all of those things aside I want to focus on daily desires.
Paul writes in Romans 1:20 that God is clearly seen by man through what God has created and that if man would only think about it a little bit he would realize that he is without excuse when it comes to acknowledging the existence of God.
Later in the chapter Paul explains how God gave man up to his own desires, to idolatry and immorality and all manner of evil. The way I read this, God grants man the desires of his heart. Man demands what he wants, proceeds to take what he wants and God grants man the option of being that self driven. When the Bible says that God gave man over to the desires of his heart, the Bible is describing how God is giving you what you want.
I'll give you an example from my own life. For several years I wanted a particular boat. I had never owned a boat but I traveled in the circle of friends who did own boats and I had my heart set on a particular brand and style of boat. I loved boats. I loved everything about boats. They consumed me. They were in my mind and in my heart even in the off season. And then one year, I made enough money to buy the boat that I wanted. My first boat. Not realizing it at the time, I worshiped my boat. It was my idol. It defined me. I cared for it more than I cared for anything else.
That my friend is idol worship. It is what Paul was describing in the 1st chapter of Romans. God had granted me the desire of my heart. Put another way, God was punishing me by giving me what I wanted. God punishes the human race by giving the human race what it wants.
In our minds we stop being the creators creatures, and we start being our own God. And when that happens we start saying things like, " I'm a self made man." I don't need anyone or anything. I can make anything happen that I want, starting from scratch." It's that kind of talk that gets us to believing that there is no creator. Or if there is one, He's not really part of my life.
This is referred to as a hardness of the heart. Once we are fully given over to the mindset that we are the god of our own lives, we are living very far outside the possibility of redemption. So much so that we have ourselves convinced that we don't need redemption granted to us, we can grant it to ourselves. This is very dangerous territory in deed. We can go to the end of our days convinced that there is no ultimate justice, that there is no reconing, and that somehow everyone moves on to a better place because that is how we would design it.
So you see, this is how easy it is to be outside the redemption of God. This is how easy it is to be blinded by our own nature. God not only reveals Himself to us through His handiwork which is all around us, He reveals Himself to us through His word, The Bible. Give yourself a break. Think outside of yourself for a moment. Consider actually reading His word and allowing Him to speak to you through it.
God has granted me a lot more than I give Him credit for. If you will for just a moment forget about the minor detail that He created us and the planet on which we live and the universe that gives us pause. Leaving all of those things aside I want to focus on daily desires.
Paul writes in Romans 1:20 that God is clearly seen by man through what God has created and that if man would only think about it a little bit he would realize that he is without excuse when it comes to acknowledging the existence of God.
Later in the chapter Paul explains how God gave man up to his own desires, to idolatry and immorality and all manner of evil. The way I read this, God grants man the desires of his heart. Man demands what he wants, proceeds to take what he wants and God grants man the option of being that self driven. When the Bible says that God gave man over to the desires of his heart, the Bible is describing how God is giving you what you want.
I'll give you an example from my own life. For several years I wanted a particular boat. I had never owned a boat but I traveled in the circle of friends who did own boats and I had my heart set on a particular brand and style of boat. I loved boats. I loved everything about boats. They consumed me. They were in my mind and in my heart even in the off season. And then one year, I made enough money to buy the boat that I wanted. My first boat. Not realizing it at the time, I worshiped my boat. It was my idol. It defined me. I cared for it more than I cared for anything else.
That my friend is idol worship. It is what Paul was describing in the 1st chapter of Romans. God had granted me the desire of my heart. Put another way, God was punishing me by giving me what I wanted. God punishes the human race by giving the human race what it wants.
In our minds we stop being the creators creatures, and we start being our own God. And when that happens we start saying things like, " I'm a self made man." I don't need anyone or anything. I can make anything happen that I want, starting from scratch." It's that kind of talk that gets us to believing that there is no creator. Or if there is one, He's not really part of my life.
This is referred to as a hardness of the heart. Once we are fully given over to the mindset that we are the god of our own lives, we are living very far outside the possibility of redemption. So much so that we have ourselves convinced that we don't need redemption granted to us, we can grant it to ourselves. This is very dangerous territory in deed. We can go to the end of our days convinced that there is no ultimate justice, that there is no reconing, and that somehow everyone moves on to a better place because that is how we would design it.
So you see, this is how easy it is to be outside the redemption of God. This is how easy it is to be blinded by our own nature. God not only reveals Himself to us through His handiwork which is all around us, He reveals Himself to us through His word, The Bible. Give yourself a break. Think outside of yourself for a moment. Consider actually reading His word and allowing Him to speak to you through it.
posted by Terry L. Burr | 4:38 PM
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