This World I Live In

"Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.  Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them."  Romans 1:28-32

If you want a picture of modern society and you want to know the root of all of society's problems, you should read Romans chapter 1.  When I read about "them" in this chapter, I think of lots of different groups of people--professors, teenagers, sorority sisters, stay-at-home moms, parents, investment bankers, etc.  I think Paul intended this list of sinful activity to encompass persons in every walk of life.  When Paul lists "every kind of wickedness" he included both outright illegal activities and also common character flaws.  He's making the point that when it comes to sin, being an arrogant person is just as bad as being a murderer.

What makes my skin crawl is the very end of verse 32--God's wrath is not just against the people sinning, but also against those who approve of those who sin.  Think about it, how many times do we approve of people who are very obviously living ungodly lives?  We cheer for them as they play major league sports, we tune in every week as they act on TV shows, and we pay money to hear them at concerts.  We are willing to overlook the fact that a person is a homosexual because we want them to decorate our house.  Or we are willing to allow our children to be taught be educators who believe that nature and saving the planet is our mission in life.  We even send our young adults to Ivy league universities where we know they teach humanism and the need for tolerance.

We all struggle with approving of sin in one or more aspects of life.  And we forget how dangerous it is to endorse sin.  Take a few minutes today to evaluate how much sin you're willing to tolerate and think about God's command to completely turn away from what is evil and to not live a life "of the world."

I know there are some changes that I need to make in my life.  God wants me to stand up against sin.  I can' just live among it and tolerate it.  It is also my job to clearly teach my children God's boundaries when it comes to sin too.  If I don't, who else will?  The National Education Agency? MTV? The neighbor kids? 

It's time to re-evaluate our role in this world we live in.