Romans 1:29-32 "They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die—yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them.” Today's episode is about how we probably doing things we know we shouldn't be doing and what we can do to stop doing them. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Are You Doing It Too?
Romans 1:29-32 "They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die—yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them.”
This was a tough verse for me to read this morning. The whole section, called the guilt of humankind, was talking about people forgetting about God and not giving God the proper respect. Honestly, I was sort of skimming the chapter and thinking in my head that God was not talking about me in this section. He was talking about all those Godless people who don’t care about God, don’t like God, maybe don’t know God. I was nodding my head and thinking yes, those people He is talking about are awful, or at least their behaviors are awful. Good thing He is not talking about me. Then I came to the end verses above and they really stood out to me.
The verses above list over 20 different ways to go against God’s decree. It is easy to look at some of them and know that they are not describing us. You might look at the verse and say, I am not wicked, I am not evil or full of malice. I am not full of murder. I do not invent evil, I am not heartless or ruthless. I think we can all look at the list above and agree that there are several things listed that do not describe us, and that is great. However, I wonder if any of us can look at that list and say that none of them describe us? We might read through the list and at first glance think we are exempt from all of them. I would never do any of those things. Is this true though, if we are being completely honest? I am going to go through a few that I know I have done, so you can see how we might be doing these things in our every day life.
The first two that stick out to me kind of go hand in hand, covetousness and full of envy. I would like to say I don’t do these things. I am happy with what I have and I don’t need what other people have. Then I look at Facebook and I see the awesome vacation that someone took and envy starts to creep its way in. I look at Instagram and I see the new house, the new job, the new baby someone just had and envy and covetousness starts to creep in. Honestly for me I see these creep in even in my Encounter Ministry class. I see people being slain in the Spirit or exhibiting physical manifestations of the Holy Spirit and envy starts to creep in. Why did they get to be slain in the Spirit? Are they holier than I am? Why are they manifesting the Holy Spirit like that, do they have more of the Holy Spirit than I do? I see some students using gifts of the Holy Spirit that I don’t have and covetousness creeps in.
I don’t always realize it in the moment, it’s only when I reflect back on it. I know when I have thoughts like these it is the enemy coming in and whispering them into my ears. I reject the thoughts and I replace it with the truth. I don’t sit in the envy and the covetousness. I recognize it, dismiss it and move on. However, it is there even if only briefly. How about you? Do you see places in your life where envy and covetousness, which is a strong desire to have something, are creeping in? Do you wonder why you feel crappy after you spend time on social media? Are you secretly wanting everything that everyone else has? Maybe you don’t even realize it, maybe all you know is that if you spend too long on social media you feel less grateful for what you do have and you have this unsettled feeling but you aren’t sure why. Next time you feel that way stop and ask yourself if you are feeling envy or covetousness? Remind yourself of all the blessings that you have received from God. Remind yourself that although other people may seem like they have a perfect life on social media, we don’t know what is really going on behind the scenes.
The next things that stood out to me was the part that says, “They are gossipers, slanderers.” I wish I could say these did not apply to me. I actually do try very hard not to be a gossiper or a slander, however, I find myself in situations where I am partaking in both. For instance, if I have a bad experience with someone at a store, I will then tell my friends or family. I will talk bad about that person instead of just forgiving and moving on. I will talk bad about drivers on the road. I would say I am not slandering people all over town and ruining their reputation and yet God still put it on my heart that whenever we are talking bad about people it is not good. Why is it we will run into several good people throughout the day and yet the only ones we talk about are the ones that weren’t good? Why not tell people about that woman who held the door for you, or the man behind you in line that gave you that extra penny you needed? Why not be on the look out for ways that people are doing good in the world instead of focusing on the ones that aren’t?
Gossiping, this is really harmful and I don’t think we realize how much. We might think we are just joking around, or just letting off some steam, but gossip can cause division in even the closest groups of friends. I don’t know if it is gossiping or slander when we are commenting on the annoying this others are doing but I know its not good. For instance, often times after we do a YouTube workout video we will comment on what the instructor did that we didn’t like, or her outfit, voice, etc. This is not good. At least she got out there and did it. At least she was brave enough to put her video online to help us get into shape. We might think it is not a big deal, it’s not like she will ever know what we are saying and we are right, she probably won’t. The problem with this is that it is training our brain to notice what we don’t like instead of what we do like. What about if after each video we commented on what was good instead of what we didn’t like?
Gossip can also run rampant in families. One sibling talks to another sibling who then talks to another sibling and soon there are things being said that aren’t accurate. Just because we are related to people doesn’t mean we have the right to talk about them when they are not around. Just because you may not agree with how your sibling is parenting does not mean you have a right to talk about them badly or gossip about them other siblings. Just because you don’t like something your parents did doesn’t mean you get to gossip about them to your other siblings. Talking about something and gossiping are different and you can tell you are gossiping if you are saying something that you wouldn’t want to get back to them. If you would be upset, or if they would be upset if they heard what you were saying, then it is gossip and you shouldn’t be saying it.
The line that stood out the most and is actually the reason I chose these verses today is, “They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die—yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them.” Wow, that is hard to hear, those who practice such things deserve to die. That is a pretty strong statement. I think often times, we can minimize what we are doing, even if we know it is wrong. We sort of rack and stack our sins. Yes, I know I am doing this one sin but it isn’t as bad as some of the other things other people are doing so I think I am ok. In the verse above, there is no distinction. It doesn’t say if you are only doing one or two of these things it is ok, but more than that and you deserve to dies. It doesn’t say that, it combines them all into one long list of things we shouldn’t do.
If the Bible is telling us it is not ok to do it and that those who do, deserve to die, then why do we think it is ok? Why do we let ourselves off the hook so easily? Why do we normalize the things God tells us not to do? Why do we think it is perfectly acceptable to do certain things just because, “everyone is doing them?” Gossiping is rampant in this country. It is hard to find people to be around that don’t just want to sit and gossip about other people. Could me break this cycle? Could we refuse to take part in any gossiping? We could either walk away when people start gossiping or change the story. Maybe say positive things about the person, or change the topic. Would you be more motivated to change your behaviors if you realized the if we partake in these things we deserve death? I feel like that is the motivation I needed to hear to try a little harder. If we know it is wrong, why do we keep doing it?
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, help us to see what behaviors we are doing that go against your decree. Put on our hearts all the things we are doing that are not ok in your eyes. Sometimes we are not doing it on purpose, sometimes we are not even aware of what we are doing. Please reveal it to us Lord, please show us how we can change, how we can worship you and honor you in a better way Lord. We love you so much and we don’t want to do anything that will hurt you or sadden you. We are so grateful for you and all you do for us. We are grateful for all the patience you have for us as we learn to live this one life you have given us. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again on Monday. Remember Jesus loves you and so do I! Have a blessed weekend!