We Know the Truth

Most of us reading this post have a deep and abiding love for the gospel—the good news that Paul heralds in Romans 1:16-17: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith." And most of us would also be quick to proclaim and defend the searing indictment of Romans 1:22-25: "Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen."

But We Still Succumb To the Lie

While this text is speaking specifically about the practice and consequences of those who do not know Christ, I fear that those of us who do know him are often guilty of falling prey to the same deception that is seen in verse 25—exchanging the truth about God for a lie and worshiping and serving the creature rather than the Creator. This may not be in regard to our eternal salvation, but in what we look to to "save us" in the difficult moments of everyday life and ministry. And while our souls might not be in eternal danger, the intimacy of our relationship with God and our effectiveness in ministry and mission certainly are. We look to Jesus to justify us before God in eternity; but we often look to lesser, functional saviors to "justify" us in the moment. These can be things like:

• Material possessions.
• Ministry results.
• Misplaced identity.
• Social media.

The ruins of our false justifiers litter the landscape of our lives. In the following series, we will take several of these "false justifiers," seek to deconstruct them, and disarm them by the power of the gospel. My hope is that by the time we finish, we will be able to exchange these lies for the truth. To be continued.