It’s not wise but foolish

Good morning, everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Sound doctrine, strong faith”

Our Bible verse for today: “Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.” Romans 1:22 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “It’s not wise but foolish”

As we lay the foundation for our study of how sound doctrine helps to build strong faith, we have been thinking about how and why people substitute faith in, and worship of, the One True God, for that of idols and false gods.

When people do that, they usually think they are clever and wise. But that isn’t wisdom, it’s foolishness. Like Paul wrote, “Claiming to be wise, they became fools.” In their human reasoning they can come up with endless clever rationalizations for why it makes sense to be so committed to their career, to their investments, to their perceived sexiness, or whatever else it is that they have committed themselves to and essentially made an idol of. But Paul says here that such thinking is worthless and it darkens the mind rather than enlightening it. In verse 21 he wrote, “Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened.”

Paul also said in these verses that such people exchange the glory of the immortal God for those worthless idols they have set up in their lives. That phrase, “exchanged the glory” means “stole the glory” – they steal the glory that rightly belongs to God, and they give it instead to worthless idols. It is an act of theft and because of that theft, they get to experience the wrath of God. Because people voluntarily give themselves over to such things, because they use those things as a substitute for God in their lives, they get to experience the wrath of God.

Now, the wrath of God takes different forms at different times. In the case of Sodom and Gomorrah in the book of Genesis, the wrath of God took the form of fire and brimstone raining down from heaven. In the closing chapters of the book of Revelation we read that one day something similar will happen at the end of the age.

The wrath of God will also be experienced on the day of judgment when it is discovered that many people’s names are not written in the Lamb’s book of life because they never placed their faith in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. In those cases, the wrath of God will be experienced by being condemned to an eternity in hell. God is grieved that it is happening to you. He never wanted it to be that way. Peter tells us that it is not God’s will for any to be lost. But you chose this. You rejected Jesus and chose the idols of the world instead.

Those are all ways in which those who reject God ultimately experience the wrath of God. It’s insanity, sheer foolishness, to choose an idol over the One True God and the consequences of doing so are eternal.

There is another way in which such people experience God’s wrath because they have chosen idols over Him, and we will think about that tomorrow. For today, I challenge all of us to seriously consider if we have allowed any idol to take the place of God in our lives.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

(If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

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