“26 This is why God delivered them over to degrading passions. For even their females exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 The males in the same way also left natural relations with females and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Males committed shameless acts with males and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty of their error.

28 And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a worthless mind to do what is morally wrong. 29 They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. 32 Although they know full well God’s just sentence — that those who practice such things deserve to die — they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.”

Romans 1:26-32

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This is one of the most painful things that a parent might have to do. Releasing your child to their bad behavior and poor choices, watching them stumble and fall. As they slip deeper and deeper into the consequences of their sin, the heart of the parent struggles more and more for them. It is not an easy process to watch. The parent longs to see them return, but the choice still remains with the child to repent of their actions and obey as they should. We all must choose, daily, to follow and obey or to continue to chase our own passions. But consequences are still consequences. And as Paul shows us here those consequences, and the life that follows along with them, stand in direct conflict with God. 

What would have been natural behavior, honoring God, is exchanged for the life that sin produces. Sexual deviance, mislaid passions, moral degredation. And when you talk to them about their sin, telling them that their choices are not acceptable before God, they are offended. They have regressed to that place where this life of sin has become their new identity, and they see their actions with a strong sense of ownership, having no other foundation in their life but those sins. Where they should have stood on the foundation of righteousness that God would have provided, they stand instead in their disobedience. As Paul says, they know God’s sentence, but they remain in their obstinate rebellion. And in their rebellion, they seek to surround themselves with people who have fallen in the same way they have, seeking what sense of comfort they can find in numbers. 

People are quick to point out the sin of homosexuality listed first in this passage, but we must also pay attention to the other sins listed here: envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, malice, gossip, slander, God-haters, arrogance, pride, boasting, inventing evil, disobedience to parents, being undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. This isn’t a life that anyone would seek intentionally for themselves, but it is the life that results from living in rebellion to God, and gossip is just as detrimental as homosexuality, it separates us from God. Sin is sin, and any purposeful chasing after it stands against God’s desire for us. People are quick to point out sins that are different than their own, and even faster to point out sins that come from the lives & choices of those who are supposed to be walking in righteousness. In order to feel secure in the choices they make, they will treat anyone who makes them feel uncomfortable with animosity. This malice, a deeper result of their sinful choices. 

God has a greater desire for all of us, a better purpose for us than our sin. As Christians, we know this and we understand where our hearts and loyalties must lie. We must also look at others in their sin, and see them the way that our Father saw us, as the One who waited for our return. We must desire a right walk for them, and do whatever God allows us to do in His great grace and mercy to help guide them back home. Jesus told the parable of the Prodigal Son for a reason. Even as we walk in rebellion, we have been afforded an opportunity, in our very next choice, to leave behind the unnatural behavior that we had favored. The Spirit brings the conviction, that seems painful at first, and conviction leads us toward right living in Christ. It is for God’s glory whenever a wayward child comes home, because it is Him who leads us back. 

Our role in seeking to GoLove others is to do whatever He desires to speak truth and show them His plan for humanity. Sin is sin, and is therefore painful & results in pain & often comes from pain. It won’t be an easy task, but if healing is to take place, then conviction must come, and conviction comes from the Spirit when the truth & word of God is presented faithfully. Tolerance just leaves people in their sin, dead, but the Gospel message brings light & life. Only the blood of Christ can cover over the sins that separate us from God. Only the promise of grace and help us move beyond our rebellion.