And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness.

They are gossips,

slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Romans 1:28-32. ESV

Have you noticed how mad people seem to be getting towards one another? Whether it's politics, things in the news, or even sports, people just seem to be at each other's throats. Even the weather has become a point of contention. Just mention climate change and watch the sides divide and the long knives come out. People are going crazy!

I've noticed even in small communities similar to the one in which I live how people are taking sides against one another. People are mad at how the city is doing things, how the schools are doing things, and even how the church is doing things. They are either mad about how their neighbors are being treated, or maybe they are simply mad at their neighbors. It seems that people are just looking for reasons to be offended, and they don't have to look very far. It's like that old joke about the guy who would fight at the drop of a hat, and if nobody dropped that hat, he would drop it himself. Only in this case, it's not a joke. People are itching to get mad at somebody - someone to fight, someone to take issue with. 

So, what is going on?

Paul, I believe, in the passage we read above shed some light on the problem. While the list is long, the source of the problem is plain: When people grow farther apart from God and His word, they start to come unraveled. And after a while, God just lets it happen.  The inspired Apostle Paul said that God just gives people over to a debased mind! In other words, since they are chomping at the bit to leave God's way, God lets them. And then He lets them stew in their own juices because when people reject God, the only alternative is depravity.

And maybe that's it. Maybe we are all becoming a little depraved. The list of offenses that occur when God lets us have our own head are distressing. When you combine things like murder, malice and even hating God, it should not surprise us that God views these things as worthy of death.

In other words, if we don't repent in time, we will not be going to Heaven! Even more distressing for us should be the next logical conclusion: Those not going to Heaven are bound for Hell...

Do you believe that? The fact is that everyone who says they believe in the Bible better, for it is impossible for God to be wrong, just as it is impossible for Him to lie. So, we better take these warnings to heart.

One final thought: Did you notice what is included in the middle of this list? Right alongside the murderers and God-haters is this: Gossips!

Have you ever wondered why? Maybe it's because gossips always seem to be stirring the pot. They are always fanning the flames of divisiveness and hatred, and they are very good at what they do. And the sad (and scary) part about this is that we have all been guilty of gossip. While we might feel pretty good about ourselves for not taking part in most of that list of terrible sins, I doubt if there are many who can honestly say that they have not taken part in their fair share of gossip. 

That being the case, what can we do? The answer is fairly simple: Stop it! Or in more Biblical terminology, repent.

And maybe once we stop taking part in gossip, other people will as well. And when we stop adding fuel to the fires that seem to be making everyone more than a little mad and more than a little crazy, I believe we will find that good things will happen.

Maybe then we can stop being so angry all the time. Maybe then we can start loving each other as we should have been loving them all along.

It's something to think about, wouldn't you agree?

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.    Matthew 5:6, NKJV

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. II Timothy 2:15, ESV

But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. Matthew 24:36, ESV

Can anyone really understand the Bible? This is the very question that many sincere men and women have asked throughout the centuries. It is also the very question that many lazy and insincere men and women have asked, if for no other reason than to give themselves an excuse for not even trying. Either way, it's a legitimate question, and one that I believe the three verses above will help to answer.

The first verse is from the sermon on the mount. It was, of course, preached by Jesus, and every teaching and promise contained in that sermon is infallible. So then, here is the first key to understanding what we can: We must strongly desire to find out what God's will is. It is such a strong desire that Jesus compares it to a hunger and a thirst. What do you do when you are hungry? You eat. What do you do when you are thirsty? You drink! A child of four could answer these questions, but it is interesting to note how many adults will feign ignorance when it comes to seeking God's will. If we really hunger and thirst for that will, we will do what it takes to satisfy those longings. And Jesus Himself has promised that we will be able to do so. 

The second passage we read above is from the Apostle Paul. More accurately, it is from his writings, but the source of his writings was the Holy Spirit who inspired Paul and the rest of the writers of the Scripture to record precisely what God wanted them to write. In reality, therefore, the instruction contained within the Bible has one unimpeachable source: God! So, when Paul writes the commandment to do our best to rightly handle the word of truth, we can only conclude that it is possible to do so. In fact, correctly handling the word of truth is required, and God has never required anything that is impossible for us to accomplish.

The third verse reveals another aspect of God's word. The context for this verse is three questions that Jesus has been asked by his apostles. The first two questions involved Jesus' prophesies concerning the destruction of the man-made temple at Jerusalem and the end of the age (likely referring to the Mosaic age). Jesus answered these two questions, but the third He did not. It too involved a prophesy, this one involving His second coming. Jesus pointed out that even He did not know that day or hour, nor did anyone else except God. This verse shows us that there are some prophesies contained within the Scriptures that we are not capable of understanding. 

This would be helpful to remember the next time someone tells you that they have discovered when the second coming is going to occur. When you hear such interpretations of the time of Jesus' second coming, it would be good to remember that even Jesus was not given this information. I doubt that God would share with your favorite preacher something that He did not reveal even to His only begotten Son. 

So, then, we are left with these three things: First, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness - and I believe that part of this righteousness includes God's Word - will be satisfied. In other words, we can know everything God wants us to know about His will if we will desire it to the point of having a genuine hunger and thirst for that will. Second, we are commanded to do our best to correctly handle the word of truth. This means we can understand those things plainly stated and clearly revealed within the Bible, if we will do our best. And third, we are told that there are some things when it comes to prophesy that we simply cannot know. While it is true that most of the New Testament is not prophesy and therefore can be understood, those things that are prophetic in nature must be approached with a realistic humility that God may not reveal the meaning of these things until Jesus comes again.

The questions we need to answer, then, are clear: Do we long to know God's word to the point that we have an actual hunger and thirst for it? Are we doing our best to correctly handle these words of truth that are contained within the Scripture? Finally, are we willing to accept that there are still a few things about prophesy that can only be determined when these events unfold at the end of time? 

The answer to these questions will very likely determine whether or not you will be pleasing in God's eyes. They will also very likely determine the level of peace and joy that are reserved for those who are interested enough in following Christ to the point that they will actually do their best to find His will and then do it.

But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:13-14, NIV (1978)

Did you ever make a bad decision and then let it haunt you for the rest of your life? You know what I'm talking about - it's the thing that whenever you remember it, you wince at the very thought of what you have done. Maybe it was a youthful indiscretion, maybe it was something that you were fully old enough to know better than to do but you did it anyway, maybe it was even a situation in which you were sincerely trying to do the right thing, but it turned out the exact opposite.

Whatever the situation, even though it might have occurred many years ago, the mistake seems to be as fresh today as the day you made it. So, what's the solution? It is easy enough for someone to say you just need to stop thinking about it and get on with life, but we all know that there are some things that are just not that easy to forget. Impossible to forget might be a better way to phrase it. So, again, what is the solution? How can we put our mistakes and sins of the past behind us?

Maybe looking at the apostle Paul's situation would help. When he was living as a Pharisee and was known as Saul of Tarsus, Pual had done some very bad things, in fact, about the worst things that you could imagine: He had persecuted followers of Christ! And the persecutions were not on the mild side, either. He was instrumental in the stoning of God's prophet, Stephen. Some people he had arrested, others he had killed. He did everything he could to discourage people from following Christ, even to the point of trying to get them to deny their Lord and Savior. So obsessed was he that he was actually on the road to Damascus to find fresh Christians to prosecute. 

That's when Jesus appeared to Saul and showed him beyond a shadow of a doubt that He really was the Messiah.

That's when Saul changed his entire life. To his defense, he really did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, so he was sincere in his thinking that those who were following Christ were actually blasphemers who were living in opposition to God. Furthermore, he honestly believed that it was his duty before God to stop these followers of Jesus. But when Jesus appeared to him, everything changed. When confronted with irrefutable evidence that Jesus was the Son of God, Saul wasted no time in repenting. And, after having his sins washed away in baptism, Saul (who would later become known as the apostle Paul) immediately began to preach that Jesus was the Son of God and that salvation could be found only in Him.

Then Paul did something that is absolutely pertinent to the problem that so many of us struggle with. To be specific, he forgot the past and went on with his new mission, which was to testify to all that Jesus was the Son of God.

Now, when Paul states that he "forgot what lay behind", he did not imply at all that his memory was wiped clear of his past sins. In fact, he often spoke of his past sins to help people to see that they too could be forgiven of the things they had done. In I Timothy 1:15-16, he said the following: "Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners - of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy to that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe in Him and receive eternal life."

From this we can clearly see that Paul remembered his past sins, so what did he mean when he wrote in Philippians that he had "forgot what lay behind"? I believe the answer is just this: He did not continually torture himself with memories of past mistakes; rather, he focused instead on his journey to heaven!

Herein lies the secret to allowing the past to remain in the past. It's not that we can ever forget some things - indeed, we should remember them if for no other reason than to use them to help us realize just how great Christ's love and God's forgiveness is. But it's like when we are traveling down the highway at 70 miles per hour: If we are continually looking over our shoulder at where we have been, it is going to be all the harder to keep our vehicle steered in the direction that we are wanting to go. So, just as Paul didn't have amnesia concerning his past, neither can we forget everything that we have done. However, we can realize that there is nothing we can do about the past, but there is everything we can do about the direction we are going. So, like Paul, we need to keep our eyes heavenward so that we can continue to press on to the goal.

Once we can learn to not continually beat ourselves up for the past mistakes that we can no longer hope to do anything about, we can then get on with the task that God has called us to: Making sure that we are pressing on to the goal and helping others to do the same. Then, we can enjoy the peace, hope and confidence that God desires for all of His dearly loved children to enjoy. Paul could stop thinking about the past, because he knew that God had forgiven him. We can do the same, if we will only trust God to forgive us of our past sins as well. After all, if Paul was the worst of sinners and he was still able to be forgiven, we too can enjoy that same gift. When we do, we will be able to relieve ourselves of that terrible burden of the mistakes and sins of the past in order that we can focus our attention on what God wants us to be doing right now.

Isn't God good!

It will come about at that time that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are stagnant in spirit, who say in their hearts, "The LORD will not do good or evil."

Zephaniah 1:12, NASB

The setting for this passage is Jerusalem, about 30 years prior to its destruction. Josiah, the first good king in many years, reigned over Judah, but despite the fact that he helped to bring about a nationwide repentance, the Lord deemed that the repentance was too late. And the reason for this? God's people had become stagnant in spirit! But what exactly does that phrase mean?

The King James version uses an archaic yet highly descriptive wording for this phenomenon: They had "settled on their lees". That was a nice way of saying they were effectively just sitting around on their big posteriors doing nothing. Most of the other modern versions translate the phrase using the term "complacent". And that is what they were. They were so casual in their approach to God that even when they worshipped Him, they were also worshipping Baals right alongside of God. And they apparently had grown so complacent that they didn't see anything wrong with such wicked activities.

So, God announced that He was going to destroy them!

Now we might think that is a well and good, especially since it has nothing to do with us in our modern times some 2,500 years after this event, but we would be wrong. And the reason we would be wrong is that we have grown just as complacent - just as stagnant in our spirits - as has the people of Judah. Just think about what we accept as "normal" today: We allow the wholesale slaughter of over one million babies to be put to death before they can be born each year in America. We celebrate our "diversity" with the rainbow, a symbol that God originally used after He had wiped out the world because they had gotten to the point that every inclination of their thoughts was "only evil, all the time" (Genesis 6). The rainbow was to be a sign between God and men of the new covenant He had made when God stated that He would never wipe out the entire world with a flood again, even though men might sin. Modern day man has now co-opted that sign of the covenant to flaunt their sin. 

Can you think of a single time in which mankind has broken a covenant with God that it turned out well?

Add to these sins the state of our society in which pornography is readily accepted, where men use the vilest of language in the most casual of settings, and where hateful speech and gossip seem to be the most accepted forms of communication. Even people who consider themselves somewhat religious often only attend a worship service once or twice a year, if convenient, and only if something entertaining is going on. The rest of the year is often reserved for "me time".

And we are accepting (and sometimes participating in) these sins as if we can do them with no fear of reprisal from our Creator, Whom we have deemed in modern times as being so filled with grace that He will just have to accept our wicked conduct and be pleased that we are at least honoring Him as God and Jesus as Lord on those rare occasions that it suits our fancy to do so.

In short, we have become stagnant in spirit! The question we should all be asking is "will God continue to allow us to do so without punishment for much longer?" I believe in our hearts we all know the answer to that question. Perhaps it is time to replace that stagnant spirit that we have grown so comfortable with a new and refreshed spirit that can only come from the One who offers us clean, living waters that have the power to revive our very souls. It is something to think about, wouldn't you agree?