YouTube: https://youtu.be/rykmzNSJEiQ

Download Audio: https://od.lk/f/MV8yOTQ3OTMxMzBf
Download Video: https://od.lk/f/MV8yOTQ3OTMyNTFf
Download PDF: https://od.lk/f/MV8yOTQ3OTMxNTlf

Priscilla: Romans 1:18-23
The Knowledge of God has been Revealed to the Gentiles

18 For God’s wrath is revealed from Heaven on all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, holding the truth in unrighteousness,

19 because the thing known of God is clearly known within them, for God revealed it to them.

20 For the unseen things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things made, both His eternal power and Godhead, for them to be without excuse.

21 Because knowing God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful. But they became vain in their reasonings, and their undiscerning heart was darkened.

22 Professing to be wise, they became foolish

23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into a likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things.

[Literal Translation of the Holy Bible]

Dear God, my Beloved Father, today I offer to You my reflection on the Word of God about the lack of reverence for God and the injustice described in Romans 1:18-23. I am grateful to You.

Dear God, I know that You created human beings in Your image in this world for the sole purpose of worshiping, honoring, and serving You. No other god is worthy of human worship and service except You. However, people do not worship You, the Holy One who created them. Instead, they worship idols and images made by their own hands. These are objects with ears that cannot hear, eyes that cannot see, and feet that cannot walk. Yet, people worship them and ask for protection and blessings. Idols are detestable to You, God. Therefore, humans have committed a serious offense against the First and Second Commandments written in the Holy Bible:

“You shall not have any other gods before Me. You shall not make a graven image for yourself, or any likeness in the heavens above, or in the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth; you shall not bow to them, and you shall not serve them; for I am Jehovah your God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of fathers on sons, on the third and on the fourth generation, to those that hate Me; and doing kindness to thousands, to those loving Me, and to those keeping My commandments” (Exodus 20:3-6).

Dear God, I understand that You are angry because people do not honor, worship, and serve the One who created them with all their hearts, all their souls, and all their strength. On the contrary, sometimes people worship their own egos or worship others who are just as guilty as they are, or worship sinful pleasures. Thus, they live without morals and treat You unfairly, God. Therefore, people will gradually sink deeper into preferring evil over good, preferring deceit over justice, and thus stray from the right path. The commandments and laws of God have been placed in the hearts of humans. When they do wrong, their conscience reprimands them and condemns them. Sometimes their hearts do not want to commit sins, but because they cannot overcome the power of sin and its temptations, they keep committing sins. Because they do not have reverence for God in their hearts, God hands them over to the temptation of demons, leading them to commit even more sins.

“For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good. For to will is present to me, but to work out the good I do not find. For what good I desire, I do not do. But the evil I do not desire, this I do.” (Romans 7:18-19).

Dear Lord, I understand that Your commandments and laws are summarized into two: to love and worship God above all else and to love others as oneself. But because humans do not love and worship God, they cannot love others as themselves. Therefore, they are in sin and become slaves to injustice. They commit injustices against You, God, and against each other. They do not live according to the moral standards that You have placed in the conscience of each person. Therefore, they are full of injustice: arguing, hating, competing, slandering, doubting, lying, deceiving, hating each other… They use injustice to suppress the truth because they do not live according to Your standards, God, to reflect the truth that is Your glory. Truth is held captive, obscured, so all the love, holy, and justice that You have placed in humans when You created them cannot be manifested as they should. Only those who live according to Your truth will reflect Your glory.

“The truth of Christ is in me, that this boasting shall not be silenced in me…” (II Corinthians 11:10).

Dear God, we are living in the last days with the increasing sinfulness of humanity. Please help us to live in the fear of God and in righteousness according to the truth that we know. Help us to live by the words that You have taught us so that we may glorify Your name. We thank You for Your grace.

In the grace of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Priscilla Christian Huynh
05/03/2023