applying Romans 1:18-32

One of the things that is easy for me not to do while reading through the Bible (as opposed to studying smaller passages) is think through ways of applying the scripture to my life. If I'm honest, there have been several days when I've closed my Bible and went on without letting it engage my mind and my life. And today that was the temptation.

So the challenge for me today - and everyday - is to apply the passage. The goal is life change, and that does not happen without seeking to put what I read into practice.

A couple days ahead in my reading plan, today one of the passages I read was the second half of Romans 1, where Paul describes the "unrighteous" who continue to "exchange the truth about God for a lie and worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator..."

And my question, How does this - with no clear, practical exhortations - apply to my life today?

I thought of a few places, but I want to share one.

The thing for me this morning was realizing that what is going on in this passage is so evil and debase that it is bringing about the wrath of God. And what is going on here? Idolatry, sexual perversions, covetousness, malice, envy, murder, strife, deceit, gossip, slander, haters of God, insolence, pride, folly, heartlessness, and ruthlessness.

That list comprises the bulk of cinema and television plot lines. It is the majority of what we see on the front pages of the magazines in the checkout lines at Wal Mart. What is going on here is what Hollywood and mainstream America feeds on for entertainment's sake.

One application of Romans 1:18-32 for me is this: Do not glory in what God hates. As I think about the movies I like (or don't really like but still laugh at and enjoy briefly), all too often they are promoting and lifting up things on account of which the wrath of God is coming to the world. How can I honor those things? I can't. Philippians 4 calls me to think on the things that are pure and worthy and honorable, and the things that bring about the applause of the masses and that are marketed to me by the world are not usually those things.

I am not going so far as to say don't watch movies or don't watch TV or don't listen to music or don't read magazines, I am saying that I need to do so more discerningly.

I've been reading through Jonathan Edwards' The End for which God Created the World recently and one quotation that stood out to me earlier applies here:

"The applause of the multitude very frequently is not founded on any just view of things, but on humour, mistake, folly and unreasonable affections. Such applause deserves to be disregarded."