Ignorance: August 20, 2012

TODAYS WORD FOR MONDAY AUGUST 20, 2012

IGNORANCE

DEFINITION:

Having little or no knowledge; unlearned; uninformed.

SCRIPTURE:

As sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 5:21.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

The apostle Paul in his writing to the Romans deals with a concern that seemed to be confusing believers in the church at Rome. Basically Paul is saying that ignorance, in God’s sight, does not give one an excuse for not knowing God.  In Romans 5:12-21, Paul sets out to show us how one man’s death can provide salvation for many not from a specific sin but the inherited sin that entered the human realm. Men are sinners by nature inherited from Adam. To prove His point He uses Adam to establish the principle that it is possible for one man’s actions to affect many people. As a result of the sin of Adam we are all born with a sin nature.

In this passage, the apostle Paul addresses the issue of ignorance or lack of understanding. Roman law was considered at that time to be the source of the idea that ignorance of the law excuses a person from obeying the law. When people were ignorant of God’s righteousness, Paul, wrote in Romans 10:3, that they established their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Many people do this today. When we live according to our own standards of right and wrong, we might feel good about ourselves for a period of time, but that does not make us spiritually healthy. Only when we are measured by God’s standard of righteousness, which is Jesus, do we know the condition of our spiritual health.

When some people become physically sick they avoid going to the doctor because they do not want to hear that something is wrong with them. Some people avoid going to church for the same reason. They know they are spiritually sick but do not want to hear that they are doing wrong. Ignorance of our sickness doesn’t make us healthy and ignorance of our sin doesn’t make us innocent. When God gave the law to the Children of Israel through Moses, He established that even unintentional sin required a sacrifice for forgiveness. You can read this in Leviticus 4.

None of us can achieve the righteousness of Christ, but thankfully we do not have to. In Roamns 5:21 the apostle Paul tells us that He shares His righteousness with us. The good news about finding out what is wrong with us is that the Great Physician can make us well. In obedience to His heavenly Father, Jesus bore all of our sins in His own body on the cross so that by His wounds we have been healed, I Peter 2:25.

God has made known to us His great gift of salvation so that we cannot claim ignorance as an excuse for remaining in sin. God is the measurer and the healer of our spiritual health and ignorance about this on our behalf is not acceptable or a valid excuse.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Philippians 4:13.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

PRAYER:

Our family rejoices that You are our Great Physician and that You know our heart. Our prayer is that You will show us any attitude or action that we might do that does not please You. Make us clean vessels for You to use and keep us in good spiritual health.