De basement

            We had a collie once, named Sally.

            I loved Sally fiercely. She looked like Lassie, a prerequisite. She was loving. She could herd cows upon command. She was great.

            I was eight years old and in heaven. Sally, however, was female. She got in heat and dogs in the country came around. We also had a Chihuahua who was sure that he was a big dog. The Chihuahua got beaten up badly by a chow who was interested in becoming much more friendly with Sally.

            My parents looked the situation over and for reasons I still don't understand, they gave Sally away to people in town.

            Sally had done nothing but be a female dog. I loved her, but she was given away.

            This might be a stretch, but Romans 1 describes a God who does, did, the same thing: loved humanity fiercely but gave it over to its own sexual debasement. What is interesting about this first chapter of Romans, it seems to me, is that Paul could have talked about humanity's ego, pride, selfishness or any of a thousand other flaws and sins.

            Instead, it is sexual sin, vile passions, debased minds that he writes about.

            I understand that some of the reason for that is the audience he is writing to or for.

            Still....

            What strikes me here is that apparently there reaches a point where God gives us away in a fashion. He gives us over to our own debased minds. In other words, God continues to love us fiercely, but if we continue to seek after that which is harmful to us, God allows it to continue.

            Don't know if Paul was trying to describe free will, but that sure sounds like it.

            I know from my own experiences, I try and try and try to be a better person, pastor, father, employee and inevitably I fail. Sometimes little. Sometimes big.

            I hope and pray that the difference is that I try and try and try. I don't think God will give me over to that debasement (as in you'll find my actions in de basement). As I accept His Spirit during and after my rebirth, I get better. The sins go away. The time between sins gets greater. My sin nature (wanting to sin as opposed to sinning sometimes unwillingly) disappears entirely.

            Romans 1:28 says that "and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind..."

            The key is they didn't even want God in their knowledge. They didn't want to think about him. They didn't want to pray to him. They didn't want to allow his direction and guidance. His will was a thing to be discouraged, not welcomed.

            So, God allowed them to their own desires.

            Doesn't mean He didn't continue to love them. Didn't mean He didn't later offer mercy and grace that can't be explained.