When Truth Unravels
Romans has been showing us what happens with we reject God and pursue sin. Our hearts and minds fall further and further from God we begin to reject the truth about God, ourselves and his creation. This weeks passage helps us see just how far that depravity can go if God finally releases us to pursue the sin we have chosen over him.
Read Romans 1:24-32
- Three times the passage says “God gave them up”, but it doesn’t mean God fully gave up on them. What does it mean and why is that so important?
- When God gives us up to sin we see a progression of giving into the lusts of our hearts, dishonoring our bodies, giving into dishonorable passions, refusing to even acknowledge God, and finally being giving over to a debased (worthless) mind. Have you seen that process play out in real life? What has, or could this look like? Talk about how we could go from flirting with the lusts of our hearts to a debased mind in real life.
- Even though this is talking about people who don’t believe, we are all tempted to walk the same kind of path. Do you think you ever flirt with this progression (from question 2)? If so how, and how does that play out for you? If not, how do you avoid it?
- Do you think you are concerned with the applause of the masses? Does your life and actions reflect that you are at least, in part, ashamed of the gospel and the truths of the bible? If yes, how? If no, why can you confidently say that?
- How does going back to verses 1:16-17 give us a tremendous amount of hope as Christians, no matter if we are struggling with sin or shame?