Romans 1:22-25 “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.”
Paul continues to describe the condition of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness (v. 18) in his letter to the church at Rome. They have the characteristic of professing (affirming) their wisdom. The true servants of God desire to show forth the wisdom of God rather than laying claim to their own. It is foolish for men to claim to be wise since we proved in the Garden of Eden that we were not even wise enough to obey one simple commandment.
The foolishness of man manifests itself most often in the form of idolatry. Men still erect effigies of man and beast and fall down to worship them. This type of idolatry is very obvious. What is not always so obvious is our worship of other men instead of devoting our attention to God. Any time we allow an individual, whether it is some public figure, our employer, or our pastor, to become more vital in our lives than spending time with God, we have an idolatry problem.
Even less recognized is our tendency to want to make God like us, changing His glory to be like corruptible man. When we try to bargain with God, we are assigning to Him the characteristics of corruptible man. If we accuse Him of unrighteousness, we are assigning to Him the characteristics of corruptible man. Using God as an excuse to seek the wealth of this world (prosperity doctrine) is changing the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image like corruptible man.
There is a serious consequence to such foolishness. When we hold the truth in unrighteousness, God gives us up to uncleanness. This uncleanness is not something that God adds to us. Rather, He withholds Himself from us and the lust of our own hearts takes over.
Falling to the lust of our own hearts has some very specific results. We mistreat these bodies that should be kept as the temple of God. We embrace all manner of immorality. We do things that cause us to become unhealthy and unable to function. Not only do we do these things to ourselves, but we encourage others to do the same.
In doing so, we change the truth of God (thou shalt have no other gods before me) into a lie. We bow before the desires of the creature instead of worshipping our Creator. This is particularly heinous when we stop to consider that these are the actions of men who hold the truth. But they hold this precious truth of God in unrighteousness.
May we reverence the Truth and walk in the truth, calling our God blessed forever!