Thursday, December 4, 2014

God's grace replaces our idols



For though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened.  Claiming to be wise, they became fools.  Romans 1: 21-23 (NRSV).

The very first commandment of the Jewish law is to honor God above all else.  In Romans 1:20 Paul assures us that God has made Himself known to us ever since the creation of the world, and failure to honor God does NOT come from ignorance on our part.  We choose to let our thinking and desires be directed to other concerns. 

Idols can help people to feel more religious. Allowing ourselves to respond to religious idols is so much easier than praying and thinking about God when our feelings are not inclined to so.  Even if we do not worship and idol, we find it is easier to read a wonderful story about Christian faith than to increase our own faith by prostration before God and praying until we are completely void of ourselves and filled with God.

God's glory is manifested through His grace toward us.  God made us to know Him and serve Him, but He planned, from the beginning of creation, to favor us even when we do not do what He created us to do.

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