We can also be ignorant to sins we’ve committed because we simply didn’t know. Perhaps you’re thinking, “But everyone knows right from wrong, so how could we do something and not know it?” The answer is simple. Because we were ignorant to the knowledge.
Known as one of the most influential preachers of all time, Charles Spurgeon translates the word “ignorance” to “inadvertence” in his November 25, 1877 sermon on the sins of ignorance.
“The word rendered “ignorance” may also bear the translation of inadvertence. Inadvertence is a kind of acted ignorance: a man frequently does wrong for lack of thought, through not considering the results of his action, or even thinking at all. He carelessly and hastily blunders into the course which first suggests itself, and errs because he did not study to be right. There is very much sin of this kind committed every day. There is no intention to do wrong, and yet wrong is done. Culpable neglect creates a thousand faults. ‘Evil is done by lack of thought as well as lack of heart.’ Sins of inadvertence, therefore, are undoubtedly abundant among us, and in these busy, thoughtless, hectic days they are apt to increase. We do not take time enough to examine our actions: we do not take good heed to our steps. Life should be a careful work of art, in which every single line and tint should be the fruit of study and thought, like the paintings of the great master who was accustomed to say, ‘I paint for eternity’; but alas life is often slurred over like those hasty productions of the scenery painter in which present effect alone is studied, and the canvas becomes a mere daub of colours hastily laid on. We seem intent to do much rather than to do well: we want to cover ground rather than to reach perfection. This is not wise. Oh that every single thought were conformed to the will of God.”
Spurgeon hones in on the fact that we don’t really think before we act, or before we speak. Raise your hand if you’re guilty. I’ll raise both of mine. Sometimes my mouth can get me into a lot of trouble, but I digress. “There is no intention to do wrong, and yet wrong is done,” he says. “We seem intent to do much rather than to do well; we want to cover ground rather than to reach perfection.” Spurgeon spoke these wise words in 1877. There was no Facebook, no iPhones, no drive-thru coffee shops, yet he was urging people to slow down because their decisions were leading to sins of ignorance.
Can we honestly say when we decide to give our opinion on every event we see on Facebook that we’re “conforming every single thought to the will of God?” When we honk our horn at the lady in the drive-thru in front of us because we failed to get up when our alarm went off and now we’re late, are we “conforming every single thought to the will of God?” When we show that inappropriate photo to a friend in a text message because we think it’s funny are we “conforming every single thought to the will of God?”
[ctt template=”3″ link=”693vo” via=”yes” ]We must slow down so we can stay in tune with who God desires us to be.[/ctt]
Oh, my friend, as I write this, I’m asking myself that very question. Am I “conforming every single thought to the will of God?” I’m so convicted right now! If I’m the only one who gets anything out of this book, it’s worth it. I recently found myself sending a picture to some friends that I thought was funny. But after I sent it, the Lord convicted me deeply. That man was someone’s son, someone’s brother, someone’s husband. I didn’t think before I acted. I was careless in my thoughts and my actions.
Here’s the good news about this type of ignorance: God will show us a way out. He will convict us and give us the tools necessary to remove ourselves from the ignorance of knowledge. This goes back to the want of knowledge we previously talked about. Hopefully, as we wean ourselves off milk and move up to steak, these sins become less and less. But just like I shared in my own sin, we’ll still find ourselves not thinking before we speak and act.
We must slow down so we can stay in tune with who God desires us to be.