Having your own way……

I heard a preacher many years ago speak about the ‘Un-generation’.  He was speaking from Romans 1: 18-32 about those who refuse to follow God’s way and are determined to live according to their own standards.  In these passages, the apostle Paul speaks on man’s unrighteousness apart from God.

Firstly, Paul lays the foundation that God’s existence has been made evident to all mankind.

…since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.  Romans 1:19 – 20 (NIV)

This passage always reminds me of a season in my life when I believed God existed but I did not have relationship with Him. I had not acknowledged Jesus as my Lord and Savior and I did not know His word.   I remember being out in nature, looking at the magnificent colors, textures, shapes, heights and depths.  I remember learning some of nature’s life cycles and thinking how great God must be to create such wonders.  I was and am still today in awe of Him.  As David said,

‘I will praise You…..Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.’               Psalms 139:14 (NKJV)

As each of us can clearly see God’s existence, being apart of His creation, we have much to be thankful for.  But Paul states that those who refuse God’s way do not see His worth and are therefore unthankful.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools.   Romans 1: 22 -23 (NIV)

To give God glory is to honor and esteem Him.  To give Him glory is recognize His greatness and submit to His holiness.  Submission is a bad word for many in our present day, but Paul states that refusing to submit to God is foolish and carries with it severe consequences.  A determination to live life according to your ways and standards and not according to His way and standard is foolish because our ways are never good enough apart from Him.  Scripture calls this determination evil or wicked and our souls suffer the consequences.

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness.  Romans 1:18 (NIV)

Because of the greatness of God’s love, mercy and grace available to all who believe, we don’t often hear much today about His wrath.  In these passages, Paul isn’t speaking of God’s wrath breaking forth against a stubborn people as in times past when flames, earthquake or plagues consumed a rebellious people, but what we see here is the Lord no longer wrestling with the stubborn will of man.  He lets stubborn man have his way.  And because of their determination or as the bible states, ‘their stubbornness’, God ‘gave them over’ to their own way.  And look at the consequences. 

Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.  They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;                       Romans 1:28 -30 (NIV)

Without the protective hand of God, willful man is, firstly, given over to the lusts of the flesh. It’s amazing to me that out of all the sins a man could commit; he is firstly given over to sexual sin.  No wonder that today many consider sexual sin to be a birthright.  It comes from a determination to live life our way, and not His way.  But the consequences don’t stop there.  Willful man's ability to reason and discern is impaired.  And worst of all, as the consequences of their stubbornness reveal the error of their ways, they refuse to repent and encourage others to follow their wicked path.

Hence, the creation of the ‘Un-generation’.

Undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful. 

                                                                                                            Romans 1:31 (NKJV)

Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.              Romans 1:32 (NKJV)

Loved ones, let us not fall short of His goodness through a stubborn determination to live life according to our own understanding.  Let us not be of the ‘Un-generation’, speaking as one who knows Him but carrying darkness and rebellion in our heart.  Let us not fall short in giving God the glory He deserves and let us be thankful in all things.  Let us live as ‘salt’ and ‘light’ in the world.  God has graciously given us the bible, His ‘manual for life’ and He has mercifully given us His Spirit enabling us to live life more abundantly.  He fills us with joy, love and hope and we have much to be thankful for.  His way is great!

Be blessed,

Are you determined to have your way?

Are you determined to have your way?

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord.  "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.    Isaiah 55:8-9 (NKJV)  

Can you understand?

"Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not fair.' Hear now, O house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair, and your ways which are not fair? When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and dies in it, it is because of the iniquity which he has done that he dies. Again, when a wicked man turns away from the wickedness which he committed, and does what is lawful and right, he preserves himself alive. Because he considers and turns away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. Yet the house of Israel says, 'The way of the Lord is not fair.' O house of Israel, is it not My ways which are fair, and your ways which are not fair? "Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways," says the Lord God. "Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin.                                     Ezekiel 18:25-30 (NKJV)

 

Can you repent?

Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, 'They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.'   Hebrews 3:10 (NKJV)

Can you follow Him?

If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.  2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV)

Can you declare?

For I have kept the ways of the Lord, And have not wickedly departed from my God. For all His judgments were before me; And as for His statutes, I did not depart from them. I was also blameless before Him, And I kept myself from my iniquity.  Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to my cleanness in His eyes. "With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;  With the pure You will show Yourself pure; And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd. You will save the humble people; But Your eyes are on the haughty, that You may bring them down. "For You are my lamp, O Lord; The Lord shall enlighten my darkness.  For by You I can run against a troop; By my God I can leap over a wall.  As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.  "For who is God, except the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God? God is my strength and power, And He makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of deer, And sets me on my high places.   2 Samuel 22:22-34 (NKJV)

I thought about my ways, And turned my feet to Your testimonies.  Psalms 119:59

(NKJV)

Can be you walk in obedience?

Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His prophets, every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets."  2 Kings 17:13 (NKJV)

But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.'  Jeremiah 7:23 (NKJV)

Can you walk in convenant with Him?

So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days."  1 Kings 3:14  (NKJV)

Then it shall be, if you heed all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I will be with you and build for you an enduring house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you. 1 Kings 11:38 (NKJV)

"Now therefore, listen to me, my children, For blessed are those who keep my ways. Proverbs 8:32 (NKJV)

Can you receive the promise?

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. Revelation 2:7 (NKJV)

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death. Revelation 2:11 (NKJV)

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.  Revelation 2:17 (NKJV)

And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations-- 'He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessels'-- as I also have received from My Father; and I will give him the morning star.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  Revelation 2:26-29 (NKJV)

He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  Revelation 3:5-6 (NKJV)

He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. And I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  Revelation 3:12-13 (NKJV)

To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  Revelation 3:21-22 (NKJV)