TURN FROM YOUR WICKED WAYS

Romans 1:24-32
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust.

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. 26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.

28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. 29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. 30 They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. 31 They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. 32 They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.

Should I tiptoe around these verses? Should I avoid possibly offending one of my readers and be ‘politically correct’? God forbid if we avoid the truth from His word.

Look at God’s words … shameful … foolish … that’s what He here calls the homosexual lifestyle. In the Old Testament, His word for it … abomination. But this is not just about homosexuality. These verse speak to sin. God hates all sin. It was not just one kind of sin that nailed Jesus to the Cross. He paid the price for all sin.

Jesus Christ is the answer, no matter what the sin. His blood paid it all. It cleanses completely, those who will surrender to Him but you must surrender. Continuing in sin results in God abandoning you to your shameful ways and foolish thinking. His grace, mercy and love is available to whoever will humble themselves and turn from their wicked ways.