Romans 1:18-20
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 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.
“Without excuse.” That’s a powerful revelation. “In the things that have been made”, God’s “invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world.” In other words, God is obviously there, and who He is, is obvious as well, due to the mere fact of our conscious existence. So why do we (man), in general, ignore God and who He is? Because of unrighteousness we “suppress the truth.” We suppress the truth about someone we know, someone we have “clearly perceived”, and most of the time we completely ignore that someone altogether. Sound familiar? I’m guilty.
I’ve been attending a men’s Bible study which focuses on spiritual leadership in the home. It’s mostly a gathering of homeschool dad’s. The point of the meetings is to encourage us to take a serious look at what type of husbands and fathers we really are and to take an inventory of where our wives and children are at regarding their relationship with Christ, and it’s been an edifying experience. When writing to the Corinthian church, Paul encourages the Christian to:
2 Corinthians 13:5-8
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? —unless indeed you fail to meet the test! I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.
It’s always good to take inventory. It’s always important to know where one is spiritually, relationally, character wise, the list goes on and on. (I encourage you to do the same, and be honest with yourself. Or, what’s the point, right?)
During the meeting we were discussing the mystery that is the woman (I’m sure women say the same about us men), and how important it is to get to know our spouse. The host of the gathering referenced from “Discovering the Mind of a Woman: The Key to Becoming a Strong and Irresistible Husband” by Ken Nair. I have not read the book, but it sounds worthwhile and the host highly recommended it. What the host referenced is that according to the book, one of the top excuses we men make for dropping the ball in our roles as husbands is that we chalk up our failures to the excuse that woman are a mystery, so, we are with excuse. It was at this moment that Romans 1 exploded in my head. We are soooo good at making excuses, aren’t we? I mean let’s be honest. If we ignore the Creator of the universe and who He is, even though it’s obvious He is there and 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,” well certainly this “mystery” we use as an excuse for our short comings as husbands is… bogus.
I raised my hand, and brought up this revelation.
The room went silent.
The point caused us to pause.
Collectively, we suddenly realized at that moment that we are without excuse regarding our short comings in our spiritual leading roles in the home.
BOOM!
The Bible makes a really big deal about aiding the fatherless and the widow throughout the Old and New Testaments. What do the fatherless and the widow have in common? The lack of a spiritual leader. The lack of a father and a husband.
I pray that we are not making our children fatherless and our wives widows.
Godspeed, to the brethren!
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