“Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves.” “who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” — Romans 1:24-25
In ancient Rome, religion was polytheistic, meaning Romans worshipped many gods and goddesses such as Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Neptune. When Christianity began to spread in the first century, it entered a culture filled with idol worship, temples, and statues. Over time, Roman Empire officially adopted Christianity, especially under Emperor Constantine in the 4th century, which led to what we now call Roman Catholicism. They adopted the faith of the disciples, but not everything from the old practices disappeared. For example, old Roman temples were turned into churches, and images that once showed pagan gods were later used to represent apostles or, most famously, Mary, who was modeled after Venus. This is where you see the tactics of the devil, if we can’t stop them, join them, then destroy and corrupt them from within.
Paul is explaining the spiritual condition in Rome. He is addressing the religious practices of the Romans, not only that they served many gods, but also that many of their acts of worship involved sexual immorality. Paul warns them that if they continue to live like others who reject God, their hearts will become hardened. When people continually reject God’s truth, He allows them to follow their own sinful desires. It’s not that He stops loving them, but that He gives them the freedom they demand. We see this same pattern throughout the Bible, especially in the life of the Israelites.
“And the Lord said to Moses: “Behold, you will rest with your fathers; and this people will rise and play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. Then My anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, ‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?’ And I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods.” Deuteronomy 31:16-18
““For Israel is stubborn Like a stubborn calf; Now the Lord will let them forage Like a lamb in open country. “Ephraim is joined to idols, Let him alone.” Hosea 4:16-17
Here you read that worshiping and bowing to any statues is an abomination to the Lord. It’s disobedience to the Commandments of God. This is where we see how the Israelites were severely punished by God, forsaken, and removed from the Promised Land because of these same sins. This is also where the Catholic Church went wrong. They can come up with their own excuses, but before God, I don’t think those excuses will work. These practices are part of their wrong doctrine, and some of their traditions have turned away from what God commanded.
““You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God,…” Exodus 20:3-5
Paul is teaching the church in Rome about the truth of the gospel. He reminds us that God is righteous. Many people quote the book of Romans to preach the gospel, but Paul is clear that the gospel isn’t a free pass to keep living in sin. It’s the good news that pulls us out of bondage and calls us to live holy and righteous lives. God didn’t call us to be unclean. He called us to walk in His truth. But when we keep hardening our hearts and ignoring the Holy Spirit, God will eventually let us go to the idols we choose. An idol isn’t just a statue; it’s anything we put before God, anything we love more than Him. When we trade the truth of God for a lie, that lie becomes our god.
The idols they created reflected their desires. What they adored, they became. The same principle applies to us today.
When we worship money, we become greedy and self-centered, consumed by the desire to gain more.
When we worship fame, we lose ourselves in the pursuit of attention and recognition, until we no longer know who we are.
When we worship success, we chase achievements so fiercely that we lose what truly matters. Our family, integrity, and our relationship with God.
The second verse that terrifies me the most, after Jesus says, “I never knew you,” is when the Bible says that God gives us up. Because that’s the end game. God is so loving that only the first two chapters of the Bible describe His perfect plan and purpose for us, and the rest of Scripture tells the story of God not giving up on us because of His great love. So when God finally gives up, it means we are done.
That’s why today we should pray that God never gives up on us. Ask Him to open our eyes to the idols in our life , the idols that need to disappear since the moment we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Let Him be the only one who dwells and reigns in us until we can truly say, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” Our entire being must be centered on Jesus.
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