Thursday June 24, 2021

Heavenly Father – help me start today with a clear heart and a clear mind ready to receive your word in a brand new way today. Amen.

Romans 1:18-23

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 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. 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 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

In his book Journey to the Center of the Earth, author Jules Verne wrote, “Science, my boy, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth.” Verne understood that there was a distinction between facts and truth, and the worthiest of pursuits is truth. Our Scripture Reading today is a controversial passage. Many students of the bible interpret this passage differently. Even amid those differences, there’s a truth to be gained from this text. Our understanding of who God truly is matters. Paul informs his readers that the way people view and respond to God impacts the way they relate to God, and that impacts the way they relate to the world around them. Knowing of God isn’t enough. We must know God.

Let me ask you this. Have you ever had the experience of someone telling you something untrue about someone else you knew well? It’s almost as if they were talking about a completely different person. Our beliefs about a person have an impact on how we relate to them, and our trust in them is directly related to our experiences with them. The same could be said about God. The beliefs we have about who God is and what God does shapes the way we live our lives.

Today, let me invite you to reflect this way. If you could describe God in one word, what would it be? Parent? Teacher? Judge? Friend? Let me invite you to also think of God in a new way today. If you think of God as a judge, today think of God as a physician. If you think of God as a healer, today think of God as a reconciler.

Lord, these are your words. This is our story. Help me live in a way that honors you today and everyday. Amen.