What if most of the people you interact with regularly were kind, patient, good, and gentle? What if they obviously showed self-control and demonstrated real faithfulness and loyalty to one another? What if their lives appeared to be characterized by love, joy, and peace? All those terms just used are from a list in the Bible and are called the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23). When we recognize, acknowledge, and receive God, His Holy Spirit begins working these characteristics into our lives, producing the “fruit” of His presence, results that reflect Him!
But just look around you at the people you meet and notice the events that are happening. Most of what we hear and see is characterized by the very opposite of those things just mentioned. The daily newscasts on television and the news apps on our phones constantly tell of a very different kind of society.
Thinking of the way things are today, consider a few descriptive terms from another Bible list: wickedness, evil, greed, hate, envy, murder (school shootings and every Chicago weekend?), quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, gossip, backstabbers, insolent, proud, boastful, disobedient, senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless (business and politics as usual?). Are these words an accurate description of the society we live in? In the context that they were written, these terms also describe the results that occur when God removes His protection from a society and allows the people to do whatever they want or whatever they can get away with. “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper” (Romans 1:28).
The cause is simply that; they do “not see fit to acknowledge God …” The phrase “God gave them over …” is used three times in a few verses. There is a downward slide that is described and ends with a society in moral chaos. As an introduction to this section, the author used this phrase, “For the wrath of God is revealed …” When enough people reject God and He allows them to have their own way, they will then experience the consequences of their own actions. The results are called the “wrath of God.” And very clearly, this is where we are in America today.
Jesus wept over Jerusalem. Do we weep over America?
Everything is About God 