Romans 1:25 They traded God’s truth for a lie, and they worshipped and served the creation instead of the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

The act of trading one thing for another is voluntary. It is the notion of barter or exchange. We tra de money for things we need every day. That’s the concept of commerce.

In the spiritual realm, there is another exchange that takes place and it is strictly at the option of man. It’s a deliberate choice on our part to trade, or exchange, God’s truth for a lie or “The Lie”.

What is truth? More specifically, what is God’s truth? God’s truth is not only that He exists. That’s too elementary. God’s truth is the concept that He created all things for His glory. All creatures were designed for the worship of God. It is only when we choose to worship, obey and serve God that we can find fulfillment in life because that is our purpose. You were born to worship and obey God. That is your purpose. God gives you the right to choose not to fulfill your purpose but that choice has consequences. It is choosing to meld with the purpose for which you were created that will bring peace of mind and purpose to your life.

The specific lie in this case is idolatry. In ancient times, human’s worshipped idols that they made with their hands and today we continue in worship of the idols of success, fame, wealth, and pleasure. The lie that human beings have believed is that we can live perfectly well without the need of God. The lie is that we can live perfectly happy lives while breaking God’s laws. The lie is that we seek first to please ourselves and satisfy our needs without even acknowledging the source of all things, God. This lie didn’t merely appear to us in an instant and out of nowhere. This lie has been skillfully crafted over several millennia. Its origin was a deception by Satan himself in the Garden of Eden when he told Eve “you will not die” and she ate of the forbidden fruit. Layer upon layer of untruth has been building on top of that one deception leading man to a supposed “illuminated” state of mind and consciousness that tells him “you are supreme over all things” and “the world is yours to take and possess for your pleasure”. We have been deceived into believing that we are gods ourselves and so we worship ourselves to the exclusion of the one true God.

Man’s worship of self and all that he has created is evident in the respect and admiration we have for the material things we enjoy in this modern age. We see the achievements of mankind in science, medicine, technology, literature, and the arts and we stand in awe. Not only do we merely respect them but we even love them and are devoted to these advances in an incredibly idolatrous manner. We are so proud of what we have accomplished in these fields and how they have made life more enjoyable. We see them as originating from humanity and so we worship what our minds have conceived and our hands have made and don’t acknowledge the one who created our minds and our hands.

Not only do we worship what we have made but we serve it almost as priests extolling the virtues of the most successful among us; reading their books to learn their ways so that we can be like them; paying our offerings of money to the ones who we deem successful so that they can teach us their ways. We serve our appetites for more and more material possessions because the more we have the happier we are with ourselves. We seek out opportunities to please our bodies with sexual indulgences, external stimulants and material possessions.

Some have chosen to be “religious” and substitute the actual worship of God for the ritualistic patterns of church attendance, repetitive prayer, and spirituality using religion as their god. Yes, you can replace God with religion. You may think you are worshipping God when you are really worshipping the institution and traditions that make up the religion. True worship of God comes through a relationship with Him through His son, Jesus Christ and inspiration by the Holy Spirit of God. Just because someone is religious, doesn’t mean that they are doing the right thing. It is the object of worship that is important, not the ritual.

Now that you know the lie and the deception that has been perpetrated on you, it is up to you to choose what you will follow. Are you going to continue in the lie or are you going to turn around and follow God’s truth?