“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves.”
(Romans 1:21-24)
Ungratefulness is a problem that has existed throughout all generations. At certain stages of life, we tend to rebel against some, if not all, authority. Perhaps this is because we view ourselves as kings or queens over our own lives, thinking that the world owes us everything simply because someone brought us into this world.
Paul is describing idolatry, which the Bible teaches against in the seventh commandment. The worship of anything or anyone other than God creates the possibility that God will turn us over to it, to dishonor our bodies among ourselves. The term dishonor means to insult or treat our bodies with contempt. These people had already willfully deserted God, who merely left them to their self-determination and self-destruction, part of the price of man’s moral freedom.
Paul refers to this stage and state of man in Acts: 17:30 as “overlooked.” The withdrawal of God’s restraint sends men deeper down. Many do not understand that our descent into chaos is not far behind when God stops looking over us.
We can spend our lives knowing about God and never appreciate what He has done for us. Even the devil has a problem with this; God created him, yet he rebelled against Him like some spoiled teenager. The Bible says that pride is the main culprit for the chaos in our lives and the world.
The fix for this seems simple enough: honor Him as God and thank Him for what He has done for us. Of course, we must humble ourselves and repent of our pride before we can do that.