Romans 1:18-32

I never knew how rich Romans was till now!

So often, at church, we only talk about God's love and mercy, etc. I don't think we realize His wrath against those who are unrighteous. (Would be really harsh to hear that every Sunday) Yes, God does accept us back when we sin (parable of prodigal son) but what if we reach the point of no return? We must not let ourselves get that far - it's not always good to learn from experience.

In v. 18, Paul says that all who are wicked and ungodly will see God's wrath. We see His wrath when we are are evil and corrupt, and more so when the End comes closer (Matt 24:7). (haha, 24/7)The Day of the Lord will come not just for God to redeem us, but to destroy all things ungodly. We see analogies of this through the OT: Noah spared from flood while wicked men were drowned, God's people were not delivered until Pharaoh's soldiers were drowned, Israelites could not have the Promised Land until they defeated the ungodly nations that inhabited it, etc.  His Return is definitely really close - natural disasters are at an all time high, to the point where we're desensitized by it. I barely remember the earthquakes in Sri Lanka, Chile,etc. Even New Zealand and Japan are in the back of my mind. Then there are the wars in Africa ... the world is so corrupt. Gotta remember though, all this must happen.

We all have a void in our hearts that only God can fill; we were all born with a yearning for God. This is because we were made for perfect fellowship with God; without God, we're incomplete (and we were all born without God; see Fall of Man). And so, we see in v. 19 -20, God takes no excuse. Even those who have not heard of the Good News will be judged and see God's wrath. This is because:
1. We were all born with a craving for God.
2. God gave us our conscience, our moral code. Even if we don't know God, we should know not to sin.
3. God's creation is too intricate to be random.

Those who can deny the existence of God aren't looking in the right places. This stresses on our need to evangelize. It still boggles my mind, though, how someone would look at the world and still deny God. Hypocritically, when I'm in a hurry or just not paying enough attention, I forget to appreciate the beauty of nature. But when I do pay attention, the world is like a playground. I could stare at a leaf for hours (I'm exaggerating, but leaves are actually really cool!) How can something so thin and delicate provide enough fuel to sustain a tree!? It's almost paper thin! Knowing (some) of the processes that go on just in one leaf is mindblowing - how does God even come up with stuff like this? It's even cooler to know that some trees can survive in a desert.

"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." (v. 21) Very harsh, very direct. It seems so inhuman to just turn away from God & at first, I just thought: if they truly knew God, how could they choose anything else? But that would be oversimplifying things. I doubt they consciously decided this, that one morning they would wake up and just reject God. It was likely a gradual thing. Over the span of a decade, or something, they'd read less and less of the Bible, spend less time with God, have less fellowship with other Christians; they just got lazy and sucked away by temptation. This sounds creepily familiar. If we do not adamantly stay by God, where might we end up? We will always be tempted, 'cause it's in our human nature. But God is always a step (more like a hundred) ahead of us, as we see in 1 Corinthians 10:13,

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

 A had a bizarre dream a few days ago. I was offered a house by some guy. I don't know who it was, but (s)he just came up to me and gave me the key or something. And as (s)he left, I felt some kinda haze come over me, as if I had been hypnotized. But anyway, I go there, and it was so cool. It was a mansion, marble floors, a grand staircase, had everything you would want in a house, kinda like Gatsby's house (if you read The Great Gatsby). Even better was the fact that I could get whatever I want. I don't exactly know how it worked but I could ask the wall for stuff. For example if I asked for the wall for a laptop, a laptop would just appear on my desk. Pretty cool, I know. The mansion was more like a fortress though, and a ghetto one at that. It was surrounded by wooden logs sharpened at the end and there were vultures that would circle my mansion. So most of the time, I just stayed inside. After a while, I started to notice something weird though. My house and everything I had asked the wall for started to sag a bit and was kinda soft. (Recall, I felt hazy in the beginning) As the haze wore off, I realized everything in the mansion was actually made of cow poo. This really sucked, 'cause I was eating hors d'oeuvres at the time.

But the point is, I was deceived by some dude on the street and sucked in by own temptation. My whole reality was distorted and I placed value in worthless things. So often, when we give in to temptation, we indulge in such worthless things. Things that only matter for a little while but lose meaning later. For instance, when I was younger, if I had 4 pieces of chocolate and my parents tells me to give half to Phebe, I would probably eat 3 and leave the last one for her. (I'm horrible!) But in retrospect, does that extra piece of chocolate do anything for me? No, and neither do sports cars, fashion, money or power. These do not last. "Heaven and earth will pass away, but (God) will never pass away." (Matthew 24:35) The answer is so simple, just choose God. Why are the simplest tasks always the hardest to follow? My biggest test is coming up; when I go off to university, will I still go to church every Sunday?

Our society sounds a lot like the one Paul is describing (v. 26-32). In our pluralistic world, have we forgotten God? Do we condone sin? How have we crossed the line?

- Sonia