Contemplative Bible Reading

Romans 1:28-32 (New Living Translation)

28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. 29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. 30 They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. 31 They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. 32 They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.

Oh mankind, what is wrong with us? Why did we walk away from God? These verses paint a horrible picture. It is not so much that we rejected God and went our own way. It is that, in so doing, we have turned on one another and done cruel things to on another.

What strikes me in reading these verses this time is at the end of verse 31: We are heartless; we show no mercy to one another.

This is enlightened? This is modern? Educated? Free from the shackles of religion? Again, what is wrong with us?

God, please help me to stay near to you, love my fellow man, and show mercy as You show mercy to me.