Something God Is Doing

But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. [Romans 1.18]

I am just going to say it... the Church today has been brow-beat by the world about God being "an angry God" to the point that the Church, in denial of the allegation, misses an enormous opportunity to teach about God's full character.

But the Biblical truth is that God is indeed angry against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

Instead of dealing with the reason God is angry (and there certainly is a reason), proud people use a "smoke and mirror" tactic to distract attention away from the real problem, their sin, and instead make allegations about God's character. Paul actually pointed that out:

Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. [Romans 1.21]

The problem of foolish ideas of what God [is] like, is a universal one. When dealing with curses for sin (manifested in all manner of physical, emotional and material loss), people's first response is typically a proud denial of responsibility for their condition. So, naturally, they conclude it must be something God is doing! And, here is the real danger: their conclusion, while entirely correct, is independent of their responsibility to live according to God's required standard of obedience including the obedience of faith! They make the problem to be all about God with no accountability on their part for stirring God's anger. Thus, foolish ideas of what God [is] like are the result. This problem exists in the Church more so than it even exists outside the Church!

As the result of people's foolish ideas of what God is like, Paul accurately pointed out that their minds became dark and confused. Is it any wonder that the Church seems so mindless and aimless in the world's eyes today? The manifest power of the Holy Spirit is, for all practical purposes, non-existent in the Church today! Ouch, yes, but true. Oh, while there is much talk of the Holy Spirit, emotional worship and spiritual hype, suffering drug addicts, sexual deviants, and all manner of physically, emotionally and mentally handicapped (broken) people leave the services just like they came - unchanged.

For this reason, I am calling on the Church to forget about defending God's character and instead start repenting (God is fully capable of defending His own character). It's not harsh, but it's just the way it works! Otherwise, we are left with our current religious system that is obviously broken but no one has the courage to call it out.

God's character is clear: He is a loving God whose anger against sin is equally as passionate. His anger brings curses and, curses don't lie. People lie though...

Father, may we stop lying to ourselves and others about our cursed conditions and instead start repenting. So be it.