Scripture Reading: Romans 1:18-32
“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting.” —Romans 1:28
This is an unpopular truth—we’ve lost our shame about sin.
Yes, all have sinned, but increasingly, there’s a callous lack of remorse over our sin. We’ve become comfortable with and desensitized to the downward spiral and ever growing depravity of our sin. Sin of every variety is no longer offensive, embarrassing or even merely accepted—it’s celebrated.
Some would counter the omniscient, omnipresent God who created us is aware of everything, so why be embarrassed about who we are and what we do? Why not be honest and openly exercise our liberty to be ourselves?
Yet, when nothing shocks us, when we aren’t compelled to live godly lives, we’ve lost the moral compass to guide us. If there’s no struggle with, nor remorse over our sins, there can be no confession, repentance, nor conversion that inspires and empowers us to seek a nobler path. When we allow our unrighteousness to suppress the truth of God’s Word, we develop a corrupt mind that proclaims the truth is a lie, and the lie is the truth.
Today’s scripture paints a bleak picture of the human condition. Yet, there’s a solution—don’t wish the conditions away, ignore them or accept them as new realities. Expose them to the light of the truth (Ephesians 5:11). That’s done first and foremost by awakening our sensitivity to the wrong in our own lives. An introspective search of ourselves frees us from a judgmental self-righteousness that condemns, and stirs up a love that sets the example, informs and liberates with compassion, not condemnation.
Speaking out against sin is the next step in breaking the cycle of sin. We will never escape bondage from what we continue to embrace and silently condone. Until we are emboldened to take a stand against sin; even our own sin, we are ever enslaved by sin.
Lesson to Remember: A heart that experiences no regret over sin is a heart that is hardened and blinded to the truth.
“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.”—Ephesians 5:11-12
