The Peril And Blessing Of Glorifying God

Rom 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified (doxadzo honored, praised worship) him not as God, neither were thankful; (appreciate, favor) but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkenedzo

1Co 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body (outwardly), and in your spirit(inwardly), which are God's.

To glorify – to praise, extol, exalt worship, to be of high opinion, to give proper weight to

Foolish – lack of understanding, indiscretion, bad judgment, indiscretion, weak in character , w/out regard to divine law or to one’s own eternal happiness

Vain- morally wicked, unsuccessful searches, profitless, empty

Imagination - dee-al-og-is-mos' discussion, that is, (internal) consideration (by implication purpose), or (external) debate: - dispute, doubtful (-ing), imagination, reasoning, thought. Fighting for silly things

Foolish – little spiritual understanding, wicked

Heart – kardeeah – thoughts feeling mind

Darkened - skot-id'-zo darkened or obscured

Schizophrenia (pronounced is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of the process of thinking and of emotional responsiveness.[1] It most commonly manifests as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social or occupational dysfunction.

Human history began with man knowing God. Human history is not the story of a beast that worshiped idols, and then evolved into a man worshiping one God. Human history is just the opposite: man began knowing God, but turned from the truth and rejected God. God revealed Himself to man through creation, the things that He made. From the world around him, man knew that there was a God who had the wisdom to plan and the power to create. These facts about God are not hidden in creation; they are "clearly seen" (Ro 1:20).

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork" (Ps 19:1).

. But man did not want to know God or honor Him as God. Instead of being thankful for all that God had given him, man refused to thank God or give Him the glory He deserves. Man was willing to use God's gifts, but he was not willing to worship and praise God for His gift.

The result was an empty mind and a darkened heart. Man the worshiper became man the philosopher, but his empty wisdom only revealed his foolishness.

Paul summarized all of history in one dramatic statement: "the times of this ignorance".

Having held down God's truth and refusing to acknowledge God's glory, man was left without a god; and man is so constituted that he must worship something. If he will not worship the true God, he will worship a false god, even if he has to manufacture it himself!

This fact about man accounts for his propensity to idolatry. Man exchanged the glory of the true God for substitute gods that he himself made. He exchanged glory for shame, incorruption for corruption, truth for lies.

Note that first on the list of false gods is man. This fulfilled Satan's purpose when he told Eve, "Ye shall be as God!" (Ge 3:5, NASB) "Glory to man in, the highest!" Satan encouraged man to say. Instead of man being made in God's image, man made gods in his own image - and then descended so low as to worship birds, beasts, and bugs!

From idolatry to immorality is just two short steps. If man is his own god, then he can do whatever he pleases and fulfill his desires without fear of judgment. We reach the climax of man's battle with God's truth when man exchanges the truth of God for whatever and abandons truth completely. The result of this self-deification was self-indulgence;

The clause although they knew God refers to an original experiential knowledge of God such as Adam and Eve had both before and after the Fall. How long this knowledge of God continued before it was perverted is not stated, but God was known by people. This fact makes human actions all the more reprehensible. One would suppose that to know God would be to honor Him, but these people neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him.

They turned from the very purpose for which God made them: to glorify Him for His Person and thank Him for His works. There was a willful insensibility toward God for his mercies and blessings. With such willful rebellion against God it is little wonder that their thinking became futile (‎emataiothesan‎, lit., "became worthless, purposeless"; cf. Eph 4:17) and their foolish (‎asynetos‎, "morally senseless"; cf. Ro 1:31) hearts were darkened (cf. Eph 4:18). When truth is rejected, in time the ability to recognize and to receive truth is impaired (cf. Jn 3:19-20).

We see instructively the downward digression of the human soul here traced! When darkness is welcomed to overspread the mind, a disinterest of the power of God is the result; and the truth which God left with and in men, instead of having free scope to acquire strength and develop itself, comes by degrees to be lost.