Romans 1:18-20 ESV
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”
The Lord put a secular song in my mind titled “Both Sides
Now.” It is about someone who used to look at God’s creations and life and love
one way but then she got disillusioned and then she looked at creation and life
and love from both sides. And still somehow it’s life’s and love’s illusions (dreams,
fantasies, misconceptions, deceptions) she recalls, finally coming to the
conclusion that she doesn’t really know God’s works and life or love at all.
So, aside from what the writer of the song might have
actually meant by the lyrics, I want us to look at what the two sides of life
and love would really be. Well, love comes from God and God is love so he
defines what love is and since he is love, love is holy, righteous, good, pure,
and upright, etc. So, if we look at the other side of love, which is not love
at all, it is the opposite of that, so it is selfishness, impurity, dishonesty,
and evil, etc.
And if life comes from God, and God is the one to breathe
into us the breath of life, and if he is the one who created us and knit us
together in our mother’s wombs, and if he is the giver of spiritual life
(everlasting life) in him, by faith in him, then what would be the other side
of that? Would it not be death and not life? And would it not be hell and not
heaven? And would it not be a life of sin and not a life of righteousness and
holiness?
And if a marriage is a union between a man and a woman, the
other side of that may well be a same sex sexual union. And if a man is to
leave his mother and father and cling to his wife so that they become one
flesh, but even before they are married and all throughout their marriage he
commits sexual immorality and adultery via extra-marital affairs, porn addiction,
lust, masturbation, and the like, he has become one flesh with “the prostitute.”
And so that is definitely the “other side” of love, which is not love at all.
So the person looking at both sides of love and life
(whether male or female) is disillusioned with life and love and so it would
appear that he is experimenting with the “other side” to try to satisfy what he
feels is lacking only to come to the realization (or not) that he doesn’t
really know life or love at all. For all he recalls is the fantasy of what he
thought was life and love, but it wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. But
in his search for love/life he suppressed the truth of God by his evil deeds.
So, he is without excuse for what he has done in rejection of God and his plan
for his life.
Romans 1:21-23 ESV
“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”
Many people, in their search for what they think is love do
not find love for it isn’t love they are looking for but they are looking to
have the lusts of their flesh satisfied. They want that tingling feeling in
their bodies more than they want a genuine love relationship. And they will
settle for fantasy in place of real relationships in order to get that physical
and emotional high which they think will satisfy them, but which only leaves
them empty and craving for more of the same nothing.
So, they will sacrifice the possibility of a true love
relationship with God and with spouse in order to feed the lusts of their flesh,
regardless of who they hurt in the process. Having their lusts fulfilled is top
priority and they will let nothing else stand in the way of their artificial
happiness. And it isn’t that they don’t know. They are not ignorant. Many of
them have professed faith in Jesus Christ for a long time and some of them are
even pastors of churches, but they chose their lusts over God and over other
relationships.
Romans 1:24-25 ESV
“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”
God is not going to force himself on you if you don’t want
to follow him in obedience and if you want to follow your own flesh, instead.
So, he will hand you over to your own devices and he will let you kill your own
soul if that is what you choose in place of him. If you want to engage in homosexual
relations (and I include masturbation here, for that is sex with oneself), God
is not going to stop you if you are determined that you are going to go in that
direction and you prefer that to a love relationship between man and woman.
And if you choose other forms of sexual immorality and
sensuality and impurity, no matter how wild those might be, he is not going to
stop you from ruining your life. If you choose to reject him and his holiness
and righteousness to run after what is impure and hateful and spiteful, he is
not going to stand in your way unless it is to protect the innocent. He is not
going to try to persuade you to do what you have already decided you don’t want
to do, but he may judge you for your evil deeds in order to protect others. So,
don’t be fooled by his silence. God has the final say in this.
[Lu
9:23-26;
Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas
1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Col
3:5-10; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-11; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn
2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Ac 26:18; Rev 21:8,27;
Rev 22:14-15; Eph 2:8-10]
For
Our Nation
An
Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Men deceiving: we’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.
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