Exchanged the Truth for a Lie—Romans 1:24-25

Exchanged the Truth for a Lie—Romans 1:24-25

"Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen” (Romans 1:24-25)

By nature God created us to be in fellowship from the beginning, as Adam and Eve enjoyed a close connection with God in the Garden of Eden. God places such importance on us knowing Him. He innately set this knowledge in our hearts.


Our society is saturated with idolatry, as we serve money, jobs, and material possessions, not realizing that these things were created for our pleasure not our bondage.
 

God chose us and desires for us to choose Him, but He does not force it. If we do not recognize Him as God, He will allow us to choose our own direction in life. The power of choice is necessary for a solid relationship.

Previously in this chapter, Paul stresses that we have intuitive knowledge of God (Rom. 1:19). He made this knowledge known to direct us to Him, but it also prevents us from sinning because the knowledge of God will counter these desires when recognizing His will above our own.

Since God has given us free will, we see that when we do not choose Him, we are given over to the sinful desires of our hearts (Rom. 1:24). In doing this, we actually turn ourselves over to the degrading power of sin. What starts out small can snowball very quickly. Over time, this condition produces hardness toward God.

Perhaps one of the most devastating effects of sin is exchanging the truth of God for a lie and worshipping other things (Rom. 1:25). No one by nature wants to believe a lie; however, the truth about God is buried away because we do not recognize Him as God (Rom. 1:21-22).

While believing this lie, we started worshipping other things. Our society is saturated with idolatry, as we serve money, jobs, and material possessions, not realizing that these things were created for our pleasure not our bondage. In other words, what people have traded God for is something worthless in comparison to His beauty (Jer. 2:11).

All of this can be avoided by recognizing God as God. Today, choose Him and choose His will above your own. Come into relationship with Him through His son Jesus and experience the fellowship He designed from the beginning. Today, choose life.

For more on breaking the power idolatry has in our lives, watch Juli’s video teaching on the idol of greed.

 

Previous: Romans 1:21-23  Next: Romans 1:26-27

Original article published May 23, 2009.

Juli Camarin

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