Seeing what is there

 This week's verses are Romans 1:18-23:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness, because what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.

 The apostle Paul is talking here about how an unhealthy worldview can lead to sin and punishment. We are in a world that is like a showroom of God's awesomeness and yet most people either never consider him at all, or worse, they do acknowledge him but willfully live apart from him. 

God's greatness is revealed in the world around us. We often see "the thing" we are looking at, but we rarely stop to consider what is behind "the thing" being that way. The similarities between sound waves and energy waves and ocean waves make seem as though they were spoken into being. The linguistic qualities of DNA could even suggest that we are living words, in an abstract sense. The human body is designed to do so many things, things we still can't do with machines or even fully explain how they go there.

We see the things around us and we stop there. We eat a carrot, and for us it's just a carrot. But we never think about the God who designed a nutritious plant, and who inspired humans and let them collaborate with him in shaping its characteristics, molding it from a woody and somewhat tasteless root to a brightly colored vegetable we can eat without even cooking it. We don't give God glory or give him thanks. But the evidence of his greatness is always right in front of us, if we'd just look up and see it.

When we no longer acknowledge God or praise his awesomeness, when we no longer even acknowledge what he's done, our world is no longer illuminated. We no longer see the whole picture of the reality we live in. The world is darkened, and we stumble around in it. We no longer look for the path, but just go any which way. We become fools.

So Paul is saying that we bring wrath on ourselves for going off the path. By sinning we deny the truth of God's lordship and act as though he hasn't given us the wisdom to do better. But we could also say that when we suppress the truth about who God is, and about what he wants for us, that we stumble into sin.

In a twisted worldview where our thoughts are just chemical reactions and our children are just clusters of cells, where there is no truth but what we make for ourselves, it's easy to imagine how we might go very wrong and not know it. And in a world where we are encouraged to be uncompromising in our pursuit of pleasure, and are supported in our rebellion against all morality and reason, it's also easy to imagine how we might block out the idea of God in order to not be troubled by our conscience.

So that's the vicious circle that Paul is describing here in these verses. The moral landscape of Rome was not much different than ours today. The Romans had many "truths" and the only belief that was forbidden was to not support them all. Despite rapid advancements in technology and creative expression, the establishment of a multicultural society, massive expansions of trade and communications, they were rotting from within.

We are all like the Romans whom Paul is speaking to. We want to choose our own path. We want to enjoy the things we want to enjoy, in the ways we want to enjoy them, without limit. We live as the gods of our world, judging those who don't behave the way we want them to behave, and putting ourselves first. We don't live as though there was a God.

But there is a God. Are we willing to see his mark on the universe around us? Are we willing to acknowledge him? Are we willing to ask for his light and his help in staying on the right path? Or are we happy with our foolishness, our animal nature, willing to fade into darkness, until there is nothing left at all? Do we value the truth? Are we willing to see what is there right in front of us before it is too late?