June 14, 2018
They exchanged the
truth about God for a lie, and worshiped & served created things rather than
the Creator... Romans 1:25
Sin is always a
substitution of what We want for what God wants.
In grade school, any time you saw
a substitute teacher in the classroom, you knew it was going to be an easier
day. Having a substitute usually meant
watching a movie, having extra time to do homework, or spending the day having
fun another way. I always enjoyed having
substitutes … until the regular teacher returned. Then the homework doubled, and the class had
to work extra hard to catch up with the lost day.
Every sin is a substitute. It seems enjoyable at the time, but has a
price to pay afterwards. Sometimes the
cost is more short-term than others, and sometimes the cost affects more than
one person, but there is always a consequence later. When we sin, we are choosing a shortcut that
has a long cost. The problem is often
that the attractiveness of sin grabs our attention more than the cost attached
to it. If we could see the cost, we
might more often avoid the sin.
Paul addresses the beginning of
his letter to the Romans talking about the severity of substitutes. In a culture rampant with sexual sin and
immorality, Paul sees how people have swapped out their holiness for sin
substitutes. They have chosen the
temporary satisfaction of sex over the longlasting security of marriage. They have decided to swap the rules of
righteous living out for the intoxication of sinful living. And the result is an ever-declining death
spiral away from God, and toward hell.
The Roman culture is not much
different than America’s culture these days.
Our rapid decline is a result of a substitution plan – choosing to
pursue selfishness over God, then money, then drugs & alcohol, and these
days now using substitutes like living together, homosexuality, abortion, and euthanasia. What appears acceptable and enjoyable
continues its destructive consequences on marriage & families, leaving in
its wake a terrible aftermath for the next generations.
The only way to recover from sin
is to stop the substitutes. That means
releasing all of the substitutes in our life and grabbing hold of the only pure
alternative, Jesus. Choose to eliminate
the long term consequences and do your homework today – letting holiness
provide a great result for generations to come.
Worship and serve the Creator, and pursue the Truth.
Or, expect to have a LOT more work
to do tomorrow.
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