Faith on the Go: Ep 3: Darkened Hearts: Consequences of Rejecting God's Glory

0:00 Welcome back to Diary of Black Women to another episode. I'm your host, Connie Morris, and I'm thrilled to have you with me as we continue to dive into Romans 1. We've been exploring the downward spiral that begins when humanity rejects God. And today we're tackling a critical issue that happens when we fail to glorify God. The title of this episode is Darkened Hearts, the Consequences of Rejecting God's Glory.

0:40 We're going to unpack Romans 1, 21 to 23 and look at how rejecting God's glory leads to the darkening of our hearts. The rise of idolatry, and the profound spiritual consequences that follow. So get out your Bibles, and we're going to go to Romans 1, verses 21 to 23, and the New King James Version I'll be reading from. And let's go. Because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful. I don't know why. Let me start over.

1:23 Verse 21, because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible men, and birds and four-footed animals and creepy things. So let's break down these points here. The failure to glorify God, Romans 121a, because they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful.

2:10 Knowing God isn't enough. We are called to glorify him as God. The failure to do so is the first step towards spiritual decline, when we refuse to give God the honor and gratitude he deserves, we begin to distance ourselves from his presence. Take a moment. You know, you think about that when we, it's like a disrespect, I would say, you know, God says here, he says, when we've called, to glorify him as God. We are called to glorify him as God. We are called to glorify him as God, just as he's deserved.

2:51 And when we don't do that, guess what? He slowly backs out of the picture. So take a moment to assess your life. Are there areas where you've acknowledged, where you've acknowledge where you fail to acknowledge God or glorify him? How might this lack of gratitude be affecting your relationship with him? I just remember, you know, you know how children can be, you know, so I remember a time it was, they were, well, they were getting into their mid-teens and it was Christmas time. And I went out and I worked a lot of overtime and bought a whole lot of gifts.

3:32 And I was excited because I spent a whole lot of money I didn't have. And so, you know how we do. And when they opened their gifts, they were very unthankful. They were just unthankful. And I was so disappointed. I ended up taking the things back to the store. And I don't remember all the details. It was such a long time ago, but I remember taking the things back to the store. And from going forth, I remember canceling. I canceled Christmas. Yes, I did. I told her there was no Santa Claus. I know I was being like, you know, I went out, I did everything I could as a single mom to make this the best.

4:17 And you just totally disrespected the whole gift giving season by saying, I don't like this. And that gratitude, I can sense that you do that to a real person. God is a real person. You do that to me as a mom in my face, I know that God is like, you're doing that to me, God in my face. I can see how he was just kind of stepped back and just kept walking back. And pretty soon, there is no presence. Presence, presence. And so from that point on, we will celebrate Christmas, But we will put Jesus first and then they get to pick a couple of gifts.

5:01 They can pick some clothes and then they get one large gifts. And that just settled that whole thing. It wasn't no longer me hiding, excuse me, hiding gifts and trying to be the surprise. And, you know, no, no, that ended that. And I know that is interesting, but I just shared that story. But I just felt that like if you can do that to a person, your mom, think of a God, how God would feel when you do not honor him, when you do not glorify him, when you don't have gratitude, you don't have a thankful heart. So let's keep going. The result of a darkened heart, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened.

5:47 When we don't glorify God, our thinking becomes futile. So, you know, I just remember when God removes his presence, he removes everything that he is. Remember, he's light. So he removes his presence. He removes his light. So if he removes his light, guess what happens? Darkness comes. So we don't glorify God. Our thinking becomes futile. Our hearts darken. This darkening in the heart represents a spiritual blindness that keeps us from recognizing God's truth and leads us further into sin. A darkened heart has turned away from God's light. Consider how your thoughts and action reflect the state of your heart.

6:30 Are you allowing God's light to shine in? I'm losing my voice here. Shine in or have you turned away, leading to spiritual blindness? Wow. Think about how serious that is, that when you are not giving God the glory, when you have an unthankful heart, and a lot of times people don't realize that there's darkness until there is no light, right? Until you go like, wow, there's really darkness is happening in this life. When you go to Romans 18.32 and you see all those lists of darkness issues happening, you don't know that. Why? Because you have totally...

7:13 Ignore the presence of God, ignore the truth of God. God has removed his light and now your heart is darkened. And so not even your heart is darkened, he took his spirit is now darkened. So everything about you no longer represents him. And the question I ask you is, are you turning away from God's light? Consider how your thoughts and action reflect the state of your heart. Even the words that come out your mouth. Some people freely curse. Oh, I don't mean, I'm not a cursor. Well, you're acting like a cursor when you're cursing. Come on now. And who curses a lot is not God.

7:56 So are you allowing God's light to shine in or have you turned away, leading to spiritual blindness. Let's continue. The folly of idolatry. Professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creepy things. When we turn away from glorifying God, we replace him with idols. These idols can be anything we elevate above God. Money, power, relationships, even self-image. The result is folly.

8:40 We know Solomon said it's vanity. The result is folly. We exchange the infinite corruptible glory of God for the finite corruptible things of this world. So we start to idolize. It says money, power, or even our self-image. So what are the idols in your life? What have you replaced above? What have you placed above God, knowingly or unknowingly? Reflect on how these idols have influenced your decision and your relationship with God. Wow. The part about self-image is powerful.

9:23 But remember, you won't notice that because he has removed his presence and presence from you. And now since that's gone, you begin to worship idols. And now that explains a lot of things. When remember for a season, people don't say Merry Christmas, they say Happy Holidays, because they don't worship the Christ and the Christmas. You have just a lot of holidays, a lot of things that you see that people do that they worship. And it's self-image, it's money, it's power relationship.

10:04 Just little things, little trinkets that they worship, but they don't worship the God. They don't worship the true and living God. And so as you see this slowly progress, it's pretty much of that downfall that we have. You got the dark heart, then you got the idolatry. Let's get some good news on this. Let's see what God has to say. Now let's look at scripture that can help us guard our heart against this darkening. Philippians 4.8, which says, Finally, brethren, whatsoever is true, whatsoever things are noble, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of a good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praiseworthy, meditate on these things.

10:54 Philippians 4.8 encourages us to focus on what is pure and true, keeping our hearts and minds aligned with God's light. Come on now. The light is what keeps our heart from darkening by meditating on the things of God, his truth, his purity, his love. We protect ourselves from the darkening that comes from neglecting the darkness. We protect ourselves from the darkling that comes from neglecting to glorify him. When we focus on what whatsoever is true, whatsoever is noble, whatsoever is just, whatsoever is pure, whatsoever is lovely, whatsoever is a good report, whatsoever is praiseworthy.

11:40 When we fill our mind with God's truth, there's no room for darkness that leads to idolatry or spiritual decline. This verse is a powerful reminder that what we focus on shapes the state of our hearts. So let us make a conscious decision to meditate on God's goodness, keeping our hearts aligned with his glory. So, wow. So as we close out today's episode, I want to challenge you to take a hard look at your life. Are there areas where you allow your heart to darken because you have neglected the glory of God?

12:22 Have you let idols take the place of his glory in your life? Here, what I want to encourage you to do, spend some time in prayer, asking God to reveal the areas of darkness in your heart. Then actively choose to glorify him. Start your day by thanking God for who he is and what he has done. Fill your mind with his word, focusing on the truth found in Philippians 4.8. Remember, the state of your heart influences every part of your life. By choosing to glorify God and keep his light at the center of your thought, you can prevent the darkening that leads to spiritual decline.

13:11 Next week, we're going to continue to explore Romans 1, exploring how God responds when we persist in rejecting his glory. It's going to be a deep and challenging conversation like they all are. So I encourage you to come ready to dig in. Once again, thank you for joining me on this journey. This is Diary of a Black Woman, and I'm Connie Morris, your host. Let's continue to glorify God, keep our hearts aligned with his truth, and live out our faith with boldness and let the light so shine before God so that men will glorify him. Amen. Stay blessed, stay focused on what is pure, what is true, and keep seeking God in all things.

13:56 Take care. Until next time.