“Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” – Romans 1:22
How does a person get to the point that they become wise in their own eyes, but they are foolish before the eyes of God? In order to find that answer, we need to read the passage prior to this verse.
Romans 1:18-22 reads: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be know is manifest in them; for God hath shown it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain (useless) in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,”
Wow, there is a lot to process in this passage. First of all, we see that God has extreme anger against the ungodly and unrighteous who know the truth about His Godhead. This anger is not against the ignorant, but against those who know the truth, and choose to reject it. Why does this anger Him? Because God has revealed the truth about Himself which He intended to be proven and revealed through their lives. Well, how do we know that they had the truth? Verse 20 tells us that they can look at the creation around them, and clearly see God’s sovereignty as Creator, though He is invisible to them physically.
Side note, there is actually a very good reason why God does not come into our physical sight. Did you know that our mortal bodies do not have the capability of taking in the full glory off God’s face without it killing us? Yikes! One example of this is found in Exodus 33:18-23 where God had to hide Moses in the cleft of a rock and cover his face with His hand, so that Moses wouldn’t die when He passed by.
With this in mind, we better understand and are thankful for why God has chosen to reveal His glory and power with the evidence of His creation instead. This evidence is so compelling, that anyone to sees it knows there is a Creator God, and they are left with no excuse to believe or say otherwise.
However, the unrighteous and ungodly set aside what they know to be true about God, and try to make up our own ideas and theories in life without including the truth of God. This decision causes their hearts to become dark, and leads them to believe that they are wise, when in reality they have become fools.
But there is still one lingering question?
How did they actually get to this point of rejecting God when they knew the truth about Him?
Take a look at verse 21, again. The answer…because when they know God, they did not glorify Him and were not thankful for Him. Consider the seriousness of this fact. When we fail to fulfil our purpose in life by glorifying God and are not thankful for what He has done for us, we put ourselves on a useless path in life that ends in foolishness and separation from God.
May God have our hearts and our praise today and always!
Comments