Theology for Everybody: RomansSample

As human sinners, we have something hardwired into our fallen nature that predisposes us to make excuses as effortlessly as water makes things wet. Every parent has a front-row seat to watch this happen to their offspring. We don’t need to teach kids to make excuses for themselves or to blame someone else for their behavior. As soon as children can speak, they immediately become tiny attorneys.

You would think we would mature and stop as we get older, but we don’t. We become more skilled, and our excuses get more sophisticated. We will say the person we attacked started the fight, so they are the one to blame for all this trouble. “Go speak to them. I’m barely involved.” Or we will blame our behavior on an oppressive system to look like victims rather than villains. We might say, “I have a genetic predisposition toward my naughty behavior, so you can’t judge me because you’re being unloving.” Or we will say, “I grew up with bad parents, so my family is my lifelong ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ card.” Someone could say, “I took a personality test, and since it says I am classified as an M-E-A-N personality type, there’s not a thing I can do about it.” Or they could say, “Nobody’s perfect. I mean, at least I’m not as bad as Hitler or Biden or Trump” (depending on political preferences).

God is a spirit being with invisible attributes that are revealed in the visible world He has made, just like a painting reveals something of the painter or a building reveals something of the architect. So, the world reflects something of the Lord. When it comes to awareness of our sinful unrighteousness, we have no excuse because God made our condition clear in two ways. Romans 1:19–20 says, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” (Continued on Day 42 ...)

Today’s Reflection

What excuses have you made for yourself in the past?