TWO THINGS TO CONSCIOUSLY AVOID
Romans 1:21 NKJV
21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
So, we leave the book of Acts which holds story after story of what God was doing in the early church. Some have called the book of Acts the Acts of the Holy Spirit. And that's an accurate assessment.
Now, we are moving to the book of Romans. This was Paul's letter to the believers in Rome and is considered one of Paul's most comprehensive doctrinal books. This is a book of teaching that spells out foundational beliefs of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In our verse for today, Paul is referring to the spiritual condition of man without God. And this verse describes what happens when man did two things that produced a negative condition.
Although mankind could see the evidence of God in nature, they did not glorify Him as God. Without going into the depravity of unsaved man there is a lesson here for us. We must glorify God as opposed to ignoring Him. A Bible dictionary defines glorify as to recognize, honor, praise, and invest with dignity. To glorify is to put into an honorable position. To those of us who have received Christ as Savior, we are in the best position to glorify God. We have experienced God's grace in a way that those without Christ have not. All we must do is be intentional about praising and honoring God.
The second thing we must avoid is not being thankful. Again, mankind did not honor God as God and they were not appreciative of Him. Not glorifying and not being thankful seem to go hand in hand. The scriptures make a compelling case for being thankful. Thankful is who we are, but again if we are not careful, we are not thankful. It's way too easy to get focused on what we need, what we don't have, and what the problems are. If our mind stays there, thankful ain't happening.
There is a negative result of not glorifying God and not being thankful. It creates a path for our thinking that is not good. This verse says they became futile in their thoughts. Futile means worthless, vain, to become foolish, and get off the right path. Getting off the right path with our thoughts is a path that leads to darkness. That's not where we want to go, and thankfully, we don't have to go there. But it's up to us, not God.
APPLICATION
Glorifying God as God and being thankful to Him will require a level of intentionality on our part. I don't know if being grateful comes naturally to us. But we have a choice as to what we do. It may not be the easiest path because we are often running contrary to our feelings. But the easiest path is not always the best path, and that certainly applies here.
We can offer our praise to God for who He is and what He has done. We can offer the sacrifice of praise, giving thanks to Him. And, in doing so, we can keep on the right path and keep our thoughts and hearts in the light.
PRAYER
Lord, help me to stay on the right path with You. You are my God, and I praise You. You are my Savior, and I thank You. You are worth any effort needed to glorify You and give You thanks.