No Excuse

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

NO EXCUSE

Rom 1:18-20

18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

NIV

It is a good thing we do not need an excuse, for we are in Christ and because of our faith in Jesus, we have been given the right to be called children of God. Because of that, we need not concern ourselves with the wrath of our Father. We have the blessing of his love, grace, and truth. However, there are those to who he is revealing his wrath. It is interesting that all people, every person in the world from the beginning to the end of time are the creation of God in whom he put the knowledge of himself, the truth within each person. We are very familiar with suppressing the truth, for we did it to its fullness, until that fateful day, the Lord broke through our hard hearts and revealed his truth to us. Once we were objects of wrath, we were also dead in our transgressions and sins. We all lived at one time gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following our nature’s desires and thoughts. Therefore, by nature, we were objects of wrath, as Paul so eloquently lays out in his letter to those in Ephesus. However, by the grace of God, because we accepted the truth, as God reaches us through the power of the Spirit, we have been made alive with Christ. We have been saved by grace and not of anything of ourselves. Yet, we cannot help to be concerned about those who are still the objects of his wrath, however, even if we have been called to be a witness of the love and grace of God toward everyone, there are always going to be those who will suppress that truth that is within them. Paul makes it clear there is no reason they cannot see the truth even if we never say anything to them. The truth is plain to all men, as we only have to observe it within everything that God created. Instead of being an alarmist, warning of the dome of the environment through the causes of mankind, they miss the true meaning of all of creation. If only they took a look at all of nature and see the invisible qualities, his eternal power, and divine nature. But alas, they will suppress all that truth for their wicked desires for power and control of others, forcing rules they think will save the world. What is so interesting is that man cannot do anything to enhance or destroy that which by the eternal power and divine nature of God created and sustains until the last day. This suppression of the truth only reveals they believe themselves to be little gods, which is wickedness and godlessness. We have to come to the conclusion that no matter how much we talk about Jesus and tell the truth of the kingdom of God, we cannot make them stop suppressing the truth. God has sent the Spirit to convict men of their sins, and in need of repentance, that needs changing their minds, and their thinking about the truth. True, that does not relieve us from speaking the truth, but it is the Spirit who does the work within a person’s heart and mind. However,  when everything shakes out, the truth still stands that on the final day of judgment not a single person will have a valid excuse for not knowing the truth and accepting it. There simply is no excuse.