“For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.” (Romans 1:20-21)
Food For Thought: Have you ever stood under the starry canopy on a crisp, clear night far away from the lights of any city—when the heavens seemed so close you could reach out and touch them—and said to yourself, “how could anyone deny the existence of the Creator?” Or what about looking at the intricacies of life under the microscope, or observing the orderliness and intuition of an ant colony, or contemplating the universal sense of justice among the nations of the world, and wondered, “if there is no God, how did such intricacy, orderliness or universality come about?” And what about the birth of a child—something that didn’t exist before, and yet when the baby is born, there is this most amazing, moving experience of wonder and awe at the mystery of human life?
The Bible tells us that these experiences, and others that are too numerous to describe, leads every human being to understand that there is a divine, personal, powerful, loving Creator God who is responsible for it all. The evidence is plain, overwhelming and indisputable. No human being anyway from any era will ever be able to stand before the Divine Judge and plead ignorance.
Yet some ignore the evidence and “begin to think up foolish ideas of what God is like. As a result, their minds become dark and confused.” Have you ever listened in amazement at some Hollywood-type who lives in obvious disregard to God get up to accept an award and thank “god” for their achievement? Or how about people eulogizing some foul-mouthed hip-hop thug who’s been gunned down by a competitor and they say, “I know he’s smiling down on us from up there!”? Right! Or how about listening to a panel of hippy-dippy religious authorities on a TV talk-show demean the beliefs of a Christian who dares to talk about a personal God who expects holiness and a Savior who is the only way to salvation and the reality of a heaven and a hell? Or how about those who snicker when you mention the Bible as the source of truth, and write you off as intolerant and narrow and close-minded because of your belief in the one true God? H. Richard Niebuhr said of such people, they “want a God without wrath who brings people without sin into a kingdom without judgment to a Christ without a Cross.”
Paul describes these as ones who’ve “thought up foolish ideas of what God is like.” How do you appeal to such people? Just tell them the truth in a loving way. Your responsibility is not to save them—only God can do that. Your task is to model the message and tell the truth and let the Holy Spirit do the convicting. And even though they may reject it, even though they may mock you, even though they may hate you, remember this: Truth penetrates the lies they’ve wrapped themselves in and cuts to the quick of their heart.
What do I base that on? Paul goes on to say in Romans 2:14-15,
“Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right.”
Blaise Pascal wrote, “What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.” In other words, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing…” Only God can fill it.
So speak the truth—be as articulate as you can…say it as lovingly and compassionately as you know how…be as bold as you can muster…ask the Holy Spirit to give you just the right words to say—and when you speak God’s immutable truth, it penetrates to the God-created vacuum in their heart and resonates with the truth they’ve chosen to ignore or deny but can’t quite do away with. And no matter how they respond to you, they have to walk away and think about what you’ve said. And you never know when that missile of truth will create an crack that will ultimately lead to an opening to the God who created them, loves them, doesn’t want them to perish, has made a way to forgive them and give them eternal life, and wants to filled their God-shaped vacuum with the most amazing, undeserved, transforming Divine love.
Prayer: God, thank you for making plain who you are through creation and through your law planted in my heart. I am so glad that in your grace you reached out and rescued me, and in your mercy you patiently waited for the day that I bowed my knee in surrender to you. I will be forever grateful for the undeserved salvation that I was granted through the sacrifice of Jesus and I will proclaim throughout eternity the wonders of your love that caused you to want me even when I lived in hatred and hostility toward you. That is the deepest depth of love that only sin-redeemed creatures know—and I will never get over it nor will I ever stop telling all creation the story of redemption! And Lord, give me an opportunity to proclaim that Good News to some lost soul today.
One more thing… St. Augustine wrote, “Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our heart is not quiet until it rests in Thee.”
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