Whenever I attempt to write, I try to expand my vocabulary by using synonyms to better magnify the English language. Yet, like anyone who stops growing mentality, it’s easy to fall into ruts with the same bland words over and over again. As I’m studying the life of Noah, depraved and putrid are words I haven’t heard in years. Perhaps, as minds become lazy, four-letter curse words have become a more normal manner in which Americans now freely express their emotions and feelings.
The earth was depraved and putrid in God’s sight, and the land was filled with violence (desecration, infringement, outrage, assault, and lust for power), 12 And God looked upon the world and saw how degenerate, debased, and vicious it was, for all humanity had corrupted their way upon the earth and lost their true direction. Genesis 6:11-12.
As a history buff, two major societal cycles occur in the first twenty chapters of the Bible. While Moses is not as descriptive in Genesis 6 as the deeds committed by the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18, both chapters highlight moral depravity. Whenever human beings start doing what’s right in their own eyes by disregarding God’s commands, moral standards plummet. Moses words in the passage above are similar to what Paul writes in Romans 1:18-20.
But the [Holy] Spirit distinctly and expressly declares that in latter times some will turn away from the faith, giving attention to deluding and seducing spirits and doctrines that demons teach, 2 Through the hypocrisy and pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared (cauterized), 1 Timothy 4:1-2.
The context of the apostle Paul’s words points to depraved and putrid souls, out of touch with God. Later on in Paul’s epistle, he explains that the sinful are in direct conflict with the Holy Spirit, Romans 8:5-8. Just as I gained 25 pounds during my first semester in college by having access to as much food as I wanted, depraved and putrid qualities are merely Christians who have become fat and out of shape spiritually. As a near year begins, may this blog inspire you to hunger and thirst for God in 2023.
by Jay Mankus
ExpressYourself4Him 