Day 2977 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Romans 1:28 NIV

Trophies won in arrogance are but losses in disguise.

It is truly amazing what our egos have managed to accomplish throughout our history. Granted, contemporary science theorizes that homo sapiens have roamed this earth for roughly 300,000 years. And while yes, that is indeed an incredibly long period of time as it equates to somewhere in the vicinity of 4,000 human lifetimes, in the grand scheme of eternity, well, it's rather short.

But in our relatively short existence, we've managed to reach this point where our minds, which were created by our Creator, have decided that we do not need said Creator. It's kind of ironic if you can see it as such, and if you've an affinity for such incredible delusion then you might even be able to find a chuckle. But for that which was created to say to the one who did the creating that his work is no longer applicable is to say that his work was never all that important.

And only within a truly debased mind is such foolishness possible.

For humans to tinker with the concept of God and reach the point where we've determined that He's not needed is an accomplishment too stupid to fathom. Yet somehow, we've done just that. We've gotten together, held a vote, gained a consensus and determined that we're here by happenstance, not because that makes any logical sense whatsoever, but simply because we don't dare consider the alternative possibility.

Because having lived for so long with such great arrogance, having to consider that there exists an Almighty God above who has witnessed our every idiotic undertaking is a kind of fear-inducing reality that cannot be welcome as if it were, well, we'd have a whole host of really big problems. If we've lived as if there were no God who had the power to both create and destroy, then facing the possibility of such a power immediately brings to mind all the things we may have done to anger, agitate, aggravate or otherwise dissatisfy said divinity.

And well, considering our aversion to things such as reality and humility and honesty and confession of our failures and flaws, it only stands to reason that so many still go to such great lengths to disprove that which cannot be disproven. Humanity doesn't want God to exist, because if He does, then we've earned every bit of what we know deep down we have coming.

Ironically, the God who very much does exist is a God of such great kindness and mercy that He sent His Son to save us from all that we know deep down we've earned. He sent a Savior to try and speak some sense into our senseless existence. Said Savior, a man named Christ, walked among us and taught us and showed us how to do better than all we ever thought was best. He did everything possible to make us feel the great love He has for us.

And we responded as only a depraved humanity so obviously would to such kindness and grace. We killed Him.

Yes, the One called Jesus went so far as to shed His blood to satisfy our sinful pasts. He walked to the miserable finish line of the path that our arrogance chose long ago so that we wouldn't have to reach the miserable end to which it leads ourselves. He just wanted to help us see that we could be better than all we'd ever been. But sadly, we loved all we'd always been so dearly that we destroyed the One who knew we could be more, and did everything needed to help us change.

Sad thing is that this human arrogance which drives humanity has been driving us into delusion since our first forbearers walked this earth. Adam and Eve didn't find reason to hold to the knowledge of God's authority. They picked a piece of fruit instead. The people during the time of Noah weren't all that big on this idea of a God above, and well, even a flood that wiped out all but a few didn't manage to get the message across to those who didn't see the rain start.

No, Moses wrestled with a people who also witnessed very clear acts of divine intervention only to doubt and whine when said divine led them away from what was good enough. They even made a fancy golden cow who they thought a worthy fill-in for the one true God. Yeah, gold cow did all that parting of the sea and stuff. David had to step up because a whole army was too afraid of the seen to trust in the unseen. And then yeah, Jesus came to set us straight, and well, we sent Him straight to the grave.

So, it's really no wonder the current state of things in this place is as they are. We're riding the same rails toward the same hell away from the same Savior so desperately trying to pull us away from the flames. Guess we just really like heat for some reason. Anyway, I digress. The sad truth is that, just as all who've gone before us, we too see no reason to humble ourselves to the reality of a God above. Instead, just like those stubborn ancestors of ours, we cling to this idea that we're more than enough on our own.

I think what's truly sad is the things used as evidence of our sufficiency. These days we've got electric cars, food ready in the amount of time it takes to drive to the second window and fashion that no longer needs to be hindered by modesty. We have amazing advancements in technology and science to the point where folks are dabbling with creating artificial intelligence and lab-grown life forms. We've even progressed to the point of being able to pick our own pronouns.

Yes, we are indeed all that we think we are, problem is that our minds don't live in reality. So all that we think we are is impressive only to us. Yay us!

The issue in all of this tomfoolery that we're enjoying still is that our ability to ignore something doesn't mean that whatever we ignore isn't possible. Just because we've not discovered something doesn't mean it's not there (Bigfoot, lookin at you!) And just because billions find trillions of reasons and excuses and convenient assumptions that allow them to doubt in God if not fully deny His existence does not in fact mean that He doesn't exist.

It just means that we really, really, really, really, really hope He doesn't. Because, if we were to be honest, our greatest human advancement has been into a kind of depravity that shouldn't be possible. Our best achievement is having utterly failed to come anywhere close to the image in which we were created. And our best and biggest trophy won in all the stupid games we've played is that we manage to think we're enough.

I don't know about you, kind of just on a roll at this point, but I've never made a planet. The only person I've ever constructed was a lego guy, though there was a Power Ranger I took apart once and put back together, not sure if that really counts. I can't count the grains of sand on the shore nor the hairs upon my head, though they are fewer these days. I can’t do a great many things, but among them is that I can’t figure out the kind of delusion that allows people to think they can create life or define truth or that we all just happened to show up here.

The fact is that we are very clearly created, and yet, society still hates the One who created us. We love earth and all the beautiful sights and sounds it holds, just not the One who holds it. We love ideas like love and mercy yet many would still happily harm the very epitome of them as displayed in Christ. We mostly just love taking all this for granted, only because we don't want to live in gratitude for having been given that which we couldn't have come up with on our own.

Be it life, forgiveness, mercy, salvation, we have indeed received a great many things we often fail to cherish or offer unto others. And yet, we manage to keep failing to see it. We think ourselves as gods, little g, mostly odds, but we continually fail to be anything other than what we've already been. We just live on repeat, and yet somehow we think that we don't need God to keep us going. It's amazingly idiotic really. To keep making the same mistakes, not only expecting different outcomes, but actually not being able to see the mistakes. Believe there’s a word for that.

The most amazing thing about our Father, or one of them at least, is that He's not forceful. At least not yet. But He doesn't force us to believe in Him. He doesn't force us to be thankful for Him. He doesn't force us to adhere to His expectations or accept His will or appreciate His provision. Instead, He allows us the freedom found in free will to determine our own perspectives and prerogatives. He lets us have it the way we want it.

And in our arrogant assumption of that as a victory, we've won a trophy that's only a loss in disguise.

While it allows us the ability to ignore His existence, it earns us an impending appointment with His existence that we may well live without acknowledging. While it affords us the freedom to do as we please, it doesn't mean that as we please is pleasing to Him. While it lets us choose our own rules and desires and dreams and the plans that plot along perfectly to the fulfillment of them, it does not diminish the consequences for having chosen to deny His authority.

Humanity is, as has always been, caught within this illusion of freedom. Free to do whatever we want, just not free from what it costs. Able to make it up as we go, but not able to fully outrun the One who set it all in motion and will one day stop this sick carousel dead in its tracks. Momentarily able to avoid responsibility, but only because it's piling up at the end the road we're on.

There's a grave danger in living based fully on assumptions. They just might prove to be incorrect. And should society's assumption that God isn't there prove faulty, the consequences are a kind of misery indescribable. And while that misery may be delayed behind a life spent indulging in every desire we can imagine and having so much fun that we think we're in Heaven, it will prove the only Heaven we ever know.

Because a life spent rejecting God leads to a hell we cannot escape no matter how much it hurts.

Granted, those of us on this side who call ourselves Christians and try to do all we can to stop being the idiots we've been are biased. But even in light of that clear caveat, I cannot see the benefit of living without the knowledge of or appreciation for God above. What do we gain by ignoring Him? What profit is there to be found in rejecting the hope of salvation? What is there here that's worth risking the possibility of Heaven?

For me personally, I'd rather live like God is there and be wrong than to live like He isn't and be wrong. Because while living like He's up there means a life given to things like self-control and the avoidance of worldly filth and distraction, living like He isn't has no possible eternal benefit. None. It only lets us off the hook with the dire hope that it doesn't come back to bite us in the end. Where's the benefit in that risk?

If we Christians are wrong about God, then the world can have said that we wasted our lives by not living in squalor. The world can laugh at us for missing out on all the sinful fun that they're enjoying. But if we're right, which we know we are, then it's not us who've wasted our lives by trying to do better. It's those who refused to put in that effort to tone it down.

What I want everyone to understand and to keep in mind is that just because this world lives like God isn't watching doesn't mean that He isn't. People here have no interest in a divine being that holds the keys to life and death. They don't want the responsibility for choosing their lives carefully. They don't want to control themselves. They just want to have fun, according only to whatever the world and the masses within deem enjoyable.

But one day, the ability to deny God will be gone. He's going to show Himself, but not as a humble Savior trying to heal. Not this time. This time, He's proving who holds the power. This time, He's going to show everyone who it is that sits on the throne. This time, He's not asking. He's ending.

A long time ago, we asked God to leave us alone, stay out of our way and let us do as we please. And He did. He handed us our inheritance and allowed us to go gamble it however we saw fit. He allowed us the freedom to sin. But friends, contrary to what so many still believe, He didn't grant us the freedom from the costs of those sins. And, though many think their tab non-existent, one day it will come due.

And just like you may have heard someone else say, our arrogance is writing checks we cannot cash. Because the only currency able to afford to square our debt is our life. Thankfully, Christ gave His that we might save ours in accepting His gift and making Him Lord in our lives. But, many never will, and so many will still owe when it's time to pay up.

Friends, just please stop. Stop the nonsense. Stop watching the world trying to learn how to live. Stop giving room in your hearts and minds to the lies controlling so many. Stop living like this is a game that we can't lose. God will win, and if we live as His enemies, we will lose more than we can possibly imagine.

Maybe it's worth that risk to you. That's something everyone has to decide for themselves. But seeing just how depraved humanity has become and just how vehemently so many still hate the idea of God, it only proves messages like this verse to be true. And if this one is true, then the others are as well.

Just because society has no room for God doesn't mean that He's not there. He is. Please don't wait to find that out the hard way. Because while we can mess up and make changes in this life, once our eternal judgement is rendered, there's no do overs. There’s just an eternity to either enjoy the reward won in surrendering to God, or an eternity to suffer in misery thinking about all the reasons we didn't and how badly we wish we would have.

In the end, depravity is just a disconnect from reality. And while that's great for those living a lie, it doesn't mean that reality is gone. It just means that we live our lives overlooking the dire necessity of adhering ourselves to the truth by which we'll be judged, the truth defined by God, the truth that we need Him more than our actions have ever proven. We can keep rejecting Him, denying Him, disappointing Him. But once these lives are over and eternity begins, we’ll realize very quickly just how much we need Him.

Make no mistake, He won’t get in our way or bother us with His presence if we don’t want Him to. But when those flames are felt, oh, we’ll have wished we’d accepted His presence, because there will be no love or mercy to be found where a life spent ignoring Him leads. And no amount of sorrow or sadness will buy us a second chance to do what we’ve been given the opportunity to do now.

He made it all perfectly clear folks. If we miss it, then we’ve only ourselves to blame for receiving exactly what we asked for.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold