Devotion #5: The World Needs to be Saved
“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” Romans 1:24-32
This passage opens with such a discouraging image, “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves.”
Multiple times through Romans chapter 1, Paul mentions God giving us up. Why on earth would God willingly give us up to sin? Does God not save us from our sins, carry our burdens, and try to protect us from the evil of the world? In short, yes, which sounds sort of contrary to what is taught in this verse. However, it is important for us to understand that though He saves us from all the bad, He exposes us to it so we know what we are being saved from.
If you think about it, when someone says, “Heads up!” we do not always put our heads down and try to cover ourselves or run away from the area. We look up to see what that person is warning about. We do not typically live a life of blind trust; our human nature is too curious. I think of this when I read this passage. We really should have blind trust when it comes to following the Lord, but I think He knows our curiosity gets the best of us at times. So, in His patience, even though He knows best and is only trying to protect us, like a rebellious teenager, we run right towards the dangers. We run right toward what will lead to our downfall because we think we know best. More often than not, it does not end up going how we thought it would, and we get burned.
This is not to say we should give in to the temptations of the world. That will only bring about more destruction in our lives. Instead, we should use this knowledge to help protect ourselves from the ways of the world.
Thankfully, the Lord is abundantly gracious, guides us toward the truth, and forgives us of all our mistakes no matter how big or small. We need to simply ask for His grace and mercy, reach out and grab the hand that He has extended to us.