The first thing that I think is important to note is that this verse begins with therefore, which automatically directs us back to what was written in the previous verses. The previous verses laid out what man's desires truly are in his lost state - man knows God, yet refuses to glorify Him or give thanks to Him - man wants to exchange the glory of God for mortal things. This sets the stage for what God does in verse 24.
God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity
gave them up indicates surrender - God surrendered man to impurity by allowing him to pursue the lusts of an sinful heart.
My kids are still young, so I can only imagine the heartbreak that a parent goes through when a child decides to pursue a lifestyle that as parents we know is wrong, and going to result in harm to our child.
This example is described perfectly in Luke 15:11-32 - the familiar parable of the prodigal son. While there are so many lessons to be learned from this parable, we ultimately see the father allow the prodigal son to take his inheritance and leave, knowing full well that the lifestyle his son has chosen is going to be harmful and result in no good whatsoever, yet the father allows his son to leave.
God does the same with us, He does not hold us against our will - even though we were created for His glory, to have a relationship with Him - He allows us to do what we willfully choose - which results in us running farther and farther from Him in pursuit of the desires of our broken and sinful heart.
to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves
This must be especially heart breaking to God - here is man - God's workmanship, created in His image - choosing to dishonor this very body that God created for His glory!
Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image
Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship
because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
After explaining that God gave us over to the lusts of our heart, according to our will, Paul reiterates why God did this - because we exchanged what we know to be true about God for a lie - and instead choose to worship things that are created rather than the Creator. Paul gives a subtle but stern warning at the end however - who is blessed forever - ultimately, God will be worshiped forever. God giving us over to the lusts of our sinful heart, us choosing to worship things other than God in no way changes this fact:
Rom 14:11 for it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God."
Php 2:10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth
God will be worshiped and praised forever!
I think it's easy sometimes to fall into the trap of thinking that we aren't as bad as the people described in these verses, especially the verses coming up. We need to realize however, that even on our best days as lost souls, we are unclean to God. In our fallen and sinful state, our desires are always in opposition to the glory of God. We may not be as evil as the next person, but in Gods eyes we are all in need of a perfect sacrifice - His Son!
I look forward to any shared wisdom on these verses!
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