Thrive Creative Journaling Devotional Bible - Flipbook - Page 10
ROMANS 2 . . . page 1392
the world was created, people have seen
the earth and sky. Through everything God
made, they can clearly see his invisible
qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t
worship him as God or even give him thanks.
And they began to think up foolish ideas of
what God was like. As a result, their minds
became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to
be wise, they instead became utter fools.
23 And instead of worshiping the glorious,
ever-living God, they worshiped idols made
to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.
Dear God,
Give Your daughter the
passion and courage to share
Your cure for sin with those
around her whose souls are
dying. Give her Your heart
to save the lost.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
24So God abandoned them to do whatever
shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with
each other’s bodies. 25They traded the truth
about God for a lie. So they worshiped and
served the things God created instead of the
Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal
praise! Amen. 26That is why God abandoned
them to their shameful desires. Even the
women turned against the natural way to
have sex and instead indulged in sex with
each other. 27And the men, instead of having
normal sexual relations with women, burned
with lust for each other. Men did shameful
things with other men, and as a result of this
sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.
28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their
foolish thinking and let them do things that
should never be done. 29Their lives became
2:9 Greek also for the Greek; also in 2:10.
full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed,
hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception,
malicious behavior, and gossip. 30They are
backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud,
and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. 31They
refuse to understand, break their promises,
are heartless, and have no mercy. 32 They
know God’s justice requires that those who
do these things deserve to die, yet they do
them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage
others to do them, too.
God’s Judgment of Sin
You may think you can condemn such
people, but you are just as bad, and
you have no excuse! When you say they are
wicked and should be punished, you are
condemning yourself, for you who judge
others do these very same things. 2And we
know that God, in his justice, will punish
anyone who does such things. 3 Since you
judge others for doing these things, why
do you think you can avoid God’s judgment
when you do the same things? 4Don’t you see
how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient
God is with you? Does this mean nothing to
you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?
5 But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing
up terrible punishment for yourself. For a
day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 He will
judge everyone according to what they have
done. 7He will give eternal life to those who
keep on doing good, seeking after the glory
and honor and immortality that God offers.
8But he will pour out his anger and wrath on
those who live for themselves, who refuse to
obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness. 9There will be trouble and calamity
for everyone who keeps on doing what is
evil—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile.* 10But there will be glory and honor and
peace from God for all who do good—for the
Jew first and also for the Gentile. 11For God
does not show favoritism.
12When the Gentiles sin, they will be destroyed, even though they never had God’s
written law. And the Jews, who do have God’s
law, will be judged by that law when they fail
to obey it. 13For merely listening to the law
doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight.
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