Romans 1:24-32
People are not born monsters. Because of original sin, we are born without knowledge of God, but God by grace reveals Himself to us. When we deny God’s existence, He gives us over to do as we please. God gives us over to sinful desires. The desire no matter how natural, becomes sinful, when we seek to fulfill it by unrighteous means. Children desire sweets; if they choose to steal candy, their desire has become evil. Some people, even while denying God, fight against temptation and others give in to it.

When people increasingly give into sinful desires, those desires grow into lust. When a person continues to deny God, God gives them over to their shameful lust. Even as God gives humanity the freedom to pursue wickedness, His prevenient grace is seeking them out and calling them to repentance. Some people who have allowed their desires to enslave them, we call addicts. When a person recognizes their bondage to sin, they have a choice to make. They can surrender to their shameful lust, or they can turn to God for help.

A person who surrenders to lust will have a mind that is increasingly depraved. They will fill their thinking with increasingly wicked and evil thoughts. Turning evil thoughts into action completes the transformation from person to monster. When we think of a human monster, we think of serial killers, rapist and murderers. Paul includes characteristics that are much more common than we want to admit. People with depraved minds are disloyal, unloving, unmerciful and unable to experience empathy. They are full of envy, strife and deceit. They are gossips, slanders, arrogant and boastful. They disobey authority including their parents. Greed and lust drives them to increasingly unrighteous action. Humanity at its worst is horribly evil.

The good news is that humanity does not have to be at its worst. We can choose to acknowledge God, and trust His mercy. When we do, God will not give us over, but instead He will pick us up.