And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to an unfit mind, to do those things were are not proper, having been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, violent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the righteous requirement of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.     Romans 1:28-32 LSB

The wicked fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” This is how Psalm 14 and Psalm 53 begin.  Denying God is foolish. Our Scripture passage today says because they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to an unfit mind.

We keep our minds in good shape by acknowledging God in all we do. We are told in Proverbs 3:5 to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and not lean on our own understanding. James 1:5 tells us that if we lack wisdom, we can ask God. He said God gives wisdom without reproach and gives it generously.

Sin doesn’t come upon us suddenly as we would like to think, there is a progression. There is even a biological pattern to sin.

You may have heard the saying, “where the mind goes, the body follows.” With sin we may see or think of something we want and shouldn’t have or something we want to do but shouldn’t do. Sin progresses from our thoughts. This is why we are told in 2 Corinthians 10:5 that we must take every thought captive and make it obedient to the Lord. If we are thinking about something we have no business even thinking about, much less doing, we need to stop.

And whatever you do, please don’t follow your heart. People love to say we should just follow our heart but actually the Bible tells us to do the opposite. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can know it? We often like to lead with our hearts and think with our hearts, but again Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us not to lean on our own understanding, but to acknowledge God in all we do.

My friend, as this old world is passing away, we must understand we need to trust in God and put Him first. We can’t rely on others or even our own hearts. We must put our faith in God. We must put God first. When we fail to do this, we put ourselves in danger of developing an unfit mind. When we develop an unfit mind, we become filled with unrighteousness.

If you are trapped in sin, know that God can free you from the bondage of sin. He wants to free you. All you have to do is admit that you are a sinner and believe in Him. Confess your sin to Him and earnestly repent. He will cleanse you from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

He will remove your sin as far from you as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). Our sin is like an aggressive cancer that will destroy us. We must ask God to remove it.

We can’t dabble in sin. We can’t sin a little. We must strive to not sin. We know that we are all sinners, but deliberate sin leads to death. Our Scripture passage clearly tells us those who practice such things are worthy of death. Please understand when the Bible refers to death in this context it refers to a spiritual death or a separation from God. Simply put, it refers to eternity in hell. We must not take this lightly.

We must not practice sin, and we must not give approval to those who do.

There will come a time when God gives us over to our sin if we reject Him by refusing to repent. I beg of you to repent before that time comes.

Have a great day!