Theme of the Week: The God Who Shows
Bible Verse: “So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.” Romans 1:24-25, NLT
Scripture Reading: Romans 1:1-32
Have you ever been with your friends or co-workers to an Escape Room? It’s an exciting experience! A group of 4 or 5 people choose the level of difficulty for the room they will try to escape. Then, the clock starts. I don’t know your experience, but as we were running out of time, I kept thinking, “How will we get out of here?” – even though I knew they would let us go, with our pride hurt, but free nonetheless.
The apostle Paul tells how God reveals himself through all that he has made, and how he has placed this truth inside of us. Paul also reminds us that we’ve chosen to suppress this truth about our Creator, and raised our flag of independence as our act of treason.
The consequences are enormous. This has revealed to us how we’ve taken the place of God in essence, and in practice, we have exchanged his worship for something or someone else. And idols never deliver. No wonder people always feel disappointed and trapped. How can we escape from this?
In today’s scripture reading of the New Living Translation of Romans 1:24-25, Paul gives us a hint. The first thing you have to do, if you want to escape the idols of your heart and the hardening that comes with them is to make good use of your disappointments. Why? The worst thing God can do to us is to give what we desire. It is only in bad times that you can see your idols. It’s only then that you can see what you have been looking for in things only Jesus can give.
Besides making good use of your troubles, the second thing you have to do to escape the idols of your heart is to do what the angels do, which is endlessly praise. The only way to get your heart to stop worshiping the wrong things is to worship the right thing.
The deepest passions of angels’ hearts are satisfied by looking at the love, beauty, and wisdom of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:10-12). Revelling in it, rejoicing in it, singing praise. When your heart’s deepest passions are satisfied by praising and adoring Jesus Christ, then all other passions are put in their place.
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