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For I know the plans I have for you,declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jer 29:11 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Sunday, July 11, 2021
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :The Actions of the Ungodly Bible Verse:Romans 1:28-32 (ESV) "And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them." Message:
In the preceding verses (Romans 1:24-27), Paul shows that everyone is able to discern God's existence, simply from the miracle of creation. Those who do not, inevitably practice idolatry; filled with blindness and pride, they make idols in their own image and worship them, whether the idol is a little clay figure, a portrait of Mao Tse Tung or their reflection in a mirror. They set themselves up as the creators of gods, a travesty of the creation of man in God's image. Such idolaters are given over to sin. Sin is not the evil that condemns them, so much as the punishment for their idolatry.
bishop and ducks from Smithfield Decritals, 1300
from Smithfield Decritals, ca. 1300.
Paul then spews out a laundry list of sinfulness that punishes idolaters, in today's passage. Some are general, such as “unrighteousness”; some specific, such as slander and gossip; some are really forms of sinfulness rather than specific acts, such as disobedience to parents or heartlessness. The categories of envy, pride, and self-centeredness seem to be the focus of this list.
The upshot of Romans 1:24-32 is the great condemnation of secular humanism. When man arrogates to himself his own creation, his pride and willful blindness enslave him to the perversion of his natural purpose. He has no point of reference.
The final sentence should be chilling to all of us, living in the culture of contemporary self-reference; it is not simply those who practice such sinfulness who embrace death, but those who “give approval”. The godless applaud others’ acts of godlessness.
Without God, society becomes a suicide pact. To commit murder, one does not have to put the victim's head in the noose; one need only stand quietly at the edge of the lynch mob. Paul's language suggests that general approval of sinful behavior is as depraved as the individual act.
It is not hard to see Paul's point exemplified in today's culture. As idolatry becomes ever more prevalent, general approval of every kind of sinful behavior seems to follow close behind. Governments, media, and shared attitudes ever more encourage us to become “foolish, faithless, heartless, [and] ruthless.”
Meditation : Prayer : I bind myself to you this day, oh Christ, in your truth and in your sacrifice. I give to you my anxiety and my fear, my depression and my doubt, for you have promised to take them if we only ask; and I take upon myself your burden, for it is light and your way is gentle. May I keep this in my heart and mind all this day.........Amen |
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