“who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them” (Romans 1:32).
How do objects become warped or twisted out of shape? In most cases, a sufficient amount of heat or pressure is all that is needed to cause most objects to warp, twist, or shatter. This question relates to our text from Romans chapter one in an important way.
With very few exceptions, every human being experiences the tangible reality of creation each day. Our daily interaction with the visible world points to the existence of a Creator who remains unseen. And then, in an unguarded moment, a thought may occur: “It’s impossible for everything to have arisen from nothing. What if there really is a God?”
But then we lay such questions aside as we return to the busy routine of daily life. But they never completely disappear: “How could ‘nothing’ produce ‘something’? What if God really exists?” No matter how many justifications, rationalizations, or excuses we layer upon those questions, they still remain: “What if…” They stick with us like a recurring irritant or a pebble in one’s shoe.
There’s something else as well. If we are honest with ourselves, we know we are not everything we should be. For instance, we know it is wrong to lie, steal, or use other human beings to accomplish our goals. We know such things are wrong because we object when others do such things to us. But who among us is innocent of these behaviors? That reality gives rise to painful truths we’d often prefer to avoid: “I stole something; that makes me a thief. I lied about something; that makes me a liar.”
We might try to rationalize those shortcomings by saying, “I’m not as bad as so-and-so,” but that doesn’t erase the guilt associated with such behaviors. And if given a choice, we usually prefer to avoid thinking about the fate of the guilty.
When we live with the external testimony of creation and the internal knowledge that we are not what we should be, many respond by attempting to suppress those realities. But that response creates pressure, and pressure is often difficult to contain. We can deal with that pressure by attempting to convince ourselves that we are little more than highly developed animals. That’s an attractive proposition for many, for if we are nothing more than highly evolved animals, then there is little reason why we cannot act like them.
Or we can attempt to substitute the infinite, all-powerful, unseen God for one that is better suited to our liking. In the words of Romans 1:25, we exchange the truth of God for the lie and remake God in our image. These are the pressures that inevitably twist the way we view ourselves, each other, and the world around us.