They Instead Became Fools

Romans 1:20-22(NLT)
“20 For ever since 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.”

Pure joy. That’s how Carolyn felt after her first date with Marvin. They’d met each other through a mutual friend and after talking on the phone a couple of weeks, they decided to meet up. Carolyn was all in after that. She had butterflies at even the thought of being in his company. Never wanting to seem overzealous, she tried to be patient and allow the relationship to slowly develop, but that quickly went out the window. It had been two years since she last dated, and since Marvin seemed to be as smitten with her as she was with him, they both jumped in.

Marvin is a single dad with two teenage boys that he absolutely adores. They came to live with him after their mother remarried. Carolyn was an only child with no children of her own, but she always believed she’d be a good mother. They had been dating over six months and everyone she knew was excited because Carolyn was happier than they had ever seen her. She had never known a more loving man than Marvin, but as their relationship settled a little more, his deep devotion to his boys became more apparent. He had been upfront with her about a commitment he had made to them, and Carolyn knew that he would only bring the woman he dated around them if he was confident it was long term.

As she thought about her few brief encounters with Marvin’s sons over the last several months, Carolyn began to feel insecure about her relationship with Marvin. She’s so afraid of rocking the boat that she won’t ask him why he continues to keep distance between her and his sons. Could it be that although he cares for her, he’s seen qualities that make him question if she can really be the mother that he believes his sons deserve?

God tells us in Romans 8:28(NLT), “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” As single women, we would be well suited to allow the heft of what God is telling us in this verse to marinate for a while. You see, God is not a stranger to anyone. Romans 1:20-21 makes it clear that people see His wondrous creation every day. They breath His air and bask under His sun. We can’t get it twisted. It’s God who makes everything come together, and the evidence of His wondrous power is the effortless quality of how He works. All you and I have to do is sit back and watch God.

Proverbs 19:21 reminds us that we can make many plans, but God’s purpose will prevail.  When His anointing flows in a situation, for us, it’s like He’s parted the Red Sea and all we have to do is walk through. That’s what He does when we honor Him and seek Him first in all things, but some of us become so excited about meeting someone new, that we leave God and His wisdom out of the equation. Unlike the folks whose minds become dark and confused, as believers that are fully persuaded in God’s power and love, we should never question or be confused about His brilliance and attention to details. We shouldn’t take anything for granted when it comes to our walk with Christ, and we should be confident that when God does the exceedingly abundantly in our lives, He doesn’t miss a beat.

Romans 1:23-25(NLT) goes on to tell us, “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. 24 So 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. 25 They 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.”

When a woman is so afraid of losing a man that she will not ask him questions that are extremely important to her, it tells you a lot about her priorities. It’s possible that she’s more interested in her standing in that relationship than she is in her standing in Christ. Some of us make a lot of compromises in our significant relationships with men, and some of them are an offense to our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We must be careful that we’re not worshiping people and things instead of worshiping our Creator in spirit and truth. If there’s any hint of this in our lives, we must repent.

As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have an enemy, the devil, and he would like nothing more than to make a fool of us. Don’t trade your rights and privileges in Christ for quick pleasure. Just because it looks right doesn’t always mean it is right for you. Society has made relationships of today very challenging, and we must be careful that we are partnering with a man that God has ordained for us. He’s the One with the plan, and we need to leave all the details to Him and make doubly sure that we’re hearing His directives. We can rest assured that when God’s hand is in it, things work together according to His purpose. You’ll experience the liberty and peace of Christ in yourself and in your significant relationship as you both welcome each other into one another’s lives.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright ©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

“They Instead Became Fools”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2024. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.