Romans 1:20-25(NLT)
20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.
“Is it clear or blurry?” my optometrist kept asking me this as I sat in the examination room for my eye exam. Staring at a red balloon down a narrow window, everything looked blurry, but as I continued to focus and my optometrist adjusted the lenses back and forth, the image became clearer and clearer. This is what the passage in Romans 1:20-25 does for us. It is the lens that allows us to focus on all the marvelous beauty God has created, and it also reveals that not all of us are focused on the red balloon or trying to see it clearly. Many of us are not grateful to God, even though we are the benefactors of all His gifts.
This passage is incredibly relevant for our time, because it seems a great deal of people have lost their senses when it comes to honoring God, and many believers are sadly in this group. Through our Lord and Savior, God created everything for humanity to enjoy, but instead of worshipping Him with thanksgiving, people are worshipping a country, place, or thing and placing it equal or above their honor for God. They have made these things idols by placing more focus on them than on praising and adoring our Heavenly Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. We should try with all our might to avoid making this mistake.
God warns us in Romans 1:21 that we can become so caught up in our distractions that we begin to think up foolish ideas. This happens because our well of gratitude doesn’t run deep. Our idolization of things and places leads to dark thoughts and confusion, and we see a whole bunch of this today. Our worship of God can’t be combined with something else. We can’t serve two masters, and Jesus Christ made this very clear in Matthew 6:24.
We spend so much time being fixated on other things, and it’s not okay to put God in second place; He won’t stand for that. On a whole, we’ve gotten to a point where our phones and devices seem like an extension of our hand, because we’re constantly consumed with social media. Minutes turn into hours, and before you know it, we’ve spent the better portion of our leisure time consuming the world’s entertainment rather than training our minds and hearts in Godliness.
Jesus Christ teaches us in Matthew 6:33 to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness first in ALL things. God can never, ever, ever be number two. He comes first. Heavenly Father wants us to enjoy the liberty of living in a free society, to love one another, and to live a fulfilling life on this planet, but we must never forget that He has no equal. Putting Him first and worshipping Him in Spirit and in truth is a must. We must remember always that only God is worthy of eternal praise, and He must come first. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“God Comes First”, written by Kim Times, edited by Reverend Fran Mack for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2019. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.