Romans 1:18-20

18 - For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 19 - Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20 - For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

We like our excuses. We thrive on them, depend upon them, and retreat to them whenever we are backed into a corner by the grey ghost of personal responsibility.

At the same time, we flaunt our freedom and declare it to be one of our highest values. We assert our rights to choose our destinies and determine our own fates. We lock ourselves into a very perplexing situation.

That is because, if we really are free, we have made our choices and must live with them. Among those choices are mercy or wrath, embrace of truth or willful ignorance, and faith or rejection when it comes to the divine revelation.

We are without excuse for several reasons:

• God's revelation is compelling.
• He has made the invisible visible (20). Not only has He spoken through His verbal and written Word, but Paul suggests that had He not done so, creation itself presents enough evidence of His holiness, power, and might to convict us. Even in ignorance we ought to have sought Him to worship Him.
• What do you see when you look around?
• How does your view of creation inform you about the nature of God?
  
• People really do know the truth (who hold the truth in unrighteousness -v. 18) It is not what we don't know that condemns us, but what we know and suppress.
• Consider ways that we suppress the truth in our own lives.
• Consider how we might return from this willfulness by first recognizing it as such and reorder our thinking, anchoring it again to truth.
  

• Our rebellion is considerable.
• We are ungodly. We have rebelled not only against God, but against our own true selves, the people we were made to be in His image. We were made to be godly and are not.
• Do you really understand the "you" that you were meant to be?
• What would a "godly you" look like? What potential are you not realizing because of what you refuse to be?
  
• We are unrighteous. There is nothing "right" about us. We are not rightly related to God and we are not headed in the right direction. That lack of "rightness" is unrighteousness.
• Consider righteousness in terms of relationship. What is right about your relationship with God? How about your human relationships? How about your relationship with yourself?
• Consider righteousness in terms of direction. Are you headed in the right direction? If you continue in the way you are going, where will you end up?
  

• God's righteousness is consistent.
• God is God. He is eternal and is eternally consistent. His wrath is His indignation at anything against His own character. He cannot and will not vary His nature to suit our whims or allow for our failures.
  
• Try to swim against the tide of a roaring, mighty river and you will experience wrath. Try to beat down the winds of a hurricane and you will experience wrath.
• How much mightier and true to Himself do you suppose God is?
• God manifests Himself. When we align ourselves with Him, that manifestation comes across as welcoming, gracious, merciful, and loving. When we resist His grace, that manifestation is a storm that we call wrath. The question for us is how we will respond to His revelation: as an indictment or as an invitation. He will not change, but we can.
• You have a choice to make.
• What will it be?