“…futile in their thinking…” is a really nice way to translate this. I looked up the word translated into “futile” and it actually means “vain.” So, in essence, what 1:21 is saying is humanity took its focus off God and put it on itself. It began looking at itself. I see that every day in my own life, in the lives of my kids, in the grocery store parking lot, at football games, wherever. We are a selfish and self-centered people by nature. Our selfishness leads down a road we don’t want to go down. Verses 21-27 describe how this self-centered, me-centric view led to all kinds of depravity that must have just broken God’s heart and sickened him.
Verse 28 uses “… a debased mind…” That is another nice way to put it. The word means “reprobate” which, according to Webesters, means “to foreordain to damnation; morally corrupt,” and then a laundry list of man’s depravity follows in the next verses.
The point for me this morning is that it is easy to take my eyes off Him, even if only for a second. One minute leads to two minutes leads to 4 minutes, etc. The self-centered road is a slippery one that is easy to walk down. Think about it, we don’t have to teach our children to be selfish. It starts early and comes naturally. One of the first words any toddler learns is “MINE!” Selflessness – the way Christ lived – is something that has to be learned. It is an on-going lesson that must be used and practiced daily or it goes away – like a foreign language – use it or lose it.
Dad, I need you today. Fix my eyes on you in all that I do. Don’t let my heart wander down the road that starts with Me. My only hope is to have spiritual blinders, as a thoroughbred in a race, to keep me looking only in the direction I am to run. Thank you for your amazing grace and mercy on me, on all of us. Thank you for your love. Help me be aware for opportunities to be selfless today. Amen.
Thats a great work Shoe. Makes me think. It wasnt even a book or anything, wow, your incredible. How do we as believers combat a selfish prideful world? How will I do this? Is it a mindset? Do I need to “do” more good works for others?