Dumb thinking

DEVOTION

ROMANS

DUMB THINKING

Rom 1:21-32

21 For 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. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 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.

NIV

It seems right to clump all this horrific behavior all together rather than spend more time verse by verse. What is amazing is all these people once knew God. When we approach their turning from or ignoring him it should give us pause to consider the possibilities of people who, at this moment, know God could become like these people described here. Because knowing God should be enough to keep ourselves from futile thinking we surely would not behave in such a manner as these people of history did. But we notice knowing him would then include glorifing and giving him thanks. It would seem those two are a common thread to non-futile thinking. How would not glorifying and giving thanks to him become futile thinking and foolish darkened hearts? It is all explained to us in the rest of this passage. Although in history it may have looked like graven images of created things such as animals, birds and reptiles. These became their idols of worship. But that lead to all sorts of immorality we will not repeat. It is bad enough to have to read how horrific their acts were. Yet we seem to have many of this type of behavior in our modern culture as well. Some of these types of people show up in protest marches to demand their behavior be legalize. It would seem we believers would never indulge in these acts, or behavior, yet there is a list of attitudes which are not actually acts of depravity or immorality, yet they are unacceptable to God and included as coming from a darkened foolish heart that ignores God. This list includes wickedness, greed, slander, gossip, envy, strife, and deceit, malice, insolent, arrogant, boastful, senseless, faithless, heartless and ruthless. It would seem many of these behaviors have shown up in churches which split up, divide in camps over some non-Christian idea, yet both sides claiming it is in the name of Christ they are doing this. We also have to watch that we do not get caught up in this futile thinking. It might all start out innocent enough, at least we think it is, but it is not. None of those attitudes belong within the heart and mind of those who know God, glorify him and give him thanks. Forgiveness rules the day. Love and compassion rule the day of a believer. Being conformed into the image of Christ rules the life of a believer. Would Jesus do or think like any of that mentioned above? No, not in the least bid. Anything that resembles that thinking described in these verses is futile and foolish. When people think like that, God gives them over to their own thinking, he releases them from his influence and allows them to condemn themselves to perish. They not only know their attitudes and behaviors deserve death, they approve not only themselves, but others who think like them. How stupid can believers become? To think, “you are ok, I am ok” is just dumb thinking.