Lusts of Their Hearts

Well, I never would have dreamed I would get excited about all the discoveries waiting to be found in Romans 1 and 2, but the more time I take to linger and look for more possibilities the more fascinating insights keep rising to the surface. What makes it so interesting is that there are so many positive truths about God camouflaged under the cover of the apparently negative “tirades” of Paul, as some people view these passages.

Today I again decided to stay in the same area and resist the urge to move on. I have become confident that the Holy Spirit likes to open more things to the minds of those willing to be taught and patient enough to spend time in active interaction with Him. I have been enjoying this “style” of study for several years now ever since I learned about inductive Bible study and began utilizing it for my own growth.

This time my eyes were attracted to the phrases “lusts of their hearts” and “bodies would be dishonored”. I try to always be alert and listening for connections and patterns that belie profound truths woven throughout a passage. If you tug on them carefully and follow them with patience you can trace another thread of beauty from one place to another as it emerges in different settings but contains the same essence of truth. One way of doing this is noticing the same or similar words used several times throughout a passage or even with links to other passages if that linkage is not stretched too thin.

It has also greatly helped to apply updated definitions to words that are too often taken for granted perpetuating centuries-old false views of God. When more accurate meanings are used to understand the passage it quite often dramatically changes the whole picture being painted by the author and thrilling new truths suddenly come to life that have been laying dormant under the veil of false assumptions. That is what I am starting to see in these chapters more and more as I spend more time allowing God to reveal Himself in this unexpected location.

As I read, I also have learned to ask more questions of the Spirit while I am reading. If I don't understand something or if it seems to conflict with other things I have been learning I do not shy away from it anymore or try to rationalize it away as so many religious people are prone to do to avoid apparent discrepancies. I am willing to ask the hard questions, not in a spirit of antagonism but in a spirit of dialog and ignorance. After all, God obviously knows more than I do here, so who better to ask what it means than the original Author Himself.

That is not to imply that everything I discover is assumed to be the final immutable word of God on the subject or passage. On the other hand, to be constantly discounting the validity or accurateness of the personal revelations uncovered during my own times with God may not be so much of a sign of humility but of fear of what others may think about me. If I am constantly discounting the credibility of what I believe God is teaching me personally, it soon becomes evident that I am more concerned about people's opinions about me than I am about God's. That reminds me of the verse about bragging that tends to not fit our typical religious mold.

Thus says the LORD, "Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things," declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 9:23-24 NAS95)

Even though it still seems uncomfortable to declare that there is a proper place for boasting given the abuse of boasting by far too many religious zealots and self-focused leaders, God Himself declares that there really is a reason and context for human boasting after carefully warning us of all the wrong alternatives. He reminds me of this occasionally when I tend to start discounting too much the intimate relationship that is growing between us. He is asking me in this text to be honest about our friendship and confess our loyalty to each other more openly. It is not an arrogant kind of boasting but more like a blushing admission to a secret love that is starting to become so strong between two people that it has become impossible to hide from the public anymore.

Again I got side-tracked from what I started out to write. Back to what I am starting to see in Romans 1. When I read the phrase “lusts of their hearts” in verse 24 the first thing I noticed was the word heart. That word used in the Bible has now become like a flashing strobe light to me to look closer to see what God is trying to tell me in this place. Since I have been pursuing a more intentional life of living from my heart recently I am finding that many things in the Bible on this issue are now far more interesting and insightful than I ever realized before. So in describing these people with all the problems listed in this passage, I see that there is something about their hearts that is likely causing them to display all these results of dysfunction and shame.

Another word that was helpfully redefined by Oswald Chambers for me is the word “lust”. Instead of associating it primarily with improper sexual cravings, he defined lust as simply “wanting it right now”, whatever “it” may be of any sort. Generally speaking from this perspective lust is the opposite of patience. That, of course, very often does apply to sexual matters, but it also shows up in many other areas of life not generally associated with the idea of lust.

So to put those two words together in this phrase, these people described are wanting what they want and crave in their hearts immediately in whatever way they can get it for themselves without waiting. Then to look around in the surrounding verses I look for cause and effect relationships to see what might be going on in their hearts and why they are so full of lust.

One of the effects listed in the same verse is a dishonoring of their bodies. This drew my attention back to verse 21 where I saw the word honor and likely has something to do with what is going on in their hearts. This is near the beginning of the description of the downward spiral of sin described in this chapter so it is significant to see how they are connected.

Another key ingredient in this area is the contrast of creature and Creator as well as the element of worship. As I broaden my view of the surrounding verses through this lens I see again the apparent core problem of sin that affects every one of us and easily discovers us in the complicity described in chapter 2 if we are not careful. Those who choose to worship – to look for life from – anything less than their Creator will have the resulting effect of suffering from lust in their heart.

This lust is really a description of the intense dissatisfaction experienced by anyone who is starving to death from lack of life-giving necessities. This lust is not a choice so much as a hunger for life itself. Our hearts crave life, intensely desire intimacy, cannot thrive without love-bonding to other hearts and ultimately cannot live for long without some connection to the heart of God, either directly or indirectly.

Somehow honor is an ingredient of this mix as well. There is something here, some equation in reality that attests to the unequivocal certainty that when we fail to honor our Creator and God – whatever that really means – we will end up dishonoring ourselves, partly because we were created in His image. So it looks like to me that when one dishonors the original then the reflection is dishonored as a result. That makes perfect sense if we are simply mirrors designed to reflect the true glory of God.

There is much, much more here that quickly expands the discussion but I must stop again for lack of time. Your comments and insights are always welcome and appreciated. Some of the most exciting times of the heart comes from group “Bible study” when done in the true spirit of openness and hunger for real truth instead of simply an impartation of pre-determined doctrines and unquestioned beliefs.

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