A young boy isn’t normally to be able to appreciate the warning signs of hazardous situations.
That’s why I lost control of the tractor and drove through the block foundation as Dad look on. I didn’t know that loose soil would cause that to happen.
But through experience and maturity, he’ll most likely develop the ability to recognize the value of retreating from ominous markers that alert him to dangerous situations. But how culpable will I be for not having been able to perceive sin for what it was on the day I give an account for my actions before Jesus Christ? [see: 2Cor. 5:10]
On the one hand, I can be confident that any sin might I commit in ignorance is covered on His authority as the current High Priest based on the text of the author of the book of Hebrews:
“Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship, but into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance.” [Heb. 9;6-7] [my emphasis]
But only the man himself or his Creator can confirm the awareness of his transgressions.
Yet carelessness all too often opens the door to depravity. So it seems to me that learning to recognize the red flags which are there to warn me not to turn the handle is crucial to my destiny. Nothing else I might fail to grasp could cost me so much.
In His sermon on the mount, Jesus challenged a man’s coveted personal refuge to engage in sexual lust:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you, for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into Gehenna. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you, for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into Gehenna.’’ [Matt. 5:27-30] [my emphasis]
Hyperbole was His vehicle of persuasion here rather than literality. The value of fragmentary loss for the common good of the whole man was considered incalculable.
His command to do whatever it takes was one of many appeals He made to men to harness their impulses in the interest of self preservation. The unpleasant task of nipping sensual provocation in the bud was the only moral alternative on the table for them.
Because, as any man will honestly concede, there is a point of no return.
For many years, I was under the false impression that just because I was “saved,” I was incapable of falling into the Deceiver’s trap which is repeatedly set to snare the sheep of Christ’s flock. And why wouldn’t I? I’d had enough positive role models in my life to reinforce my understanding of what a Godly man was, and they all seemed to be in control of their passions.
[What does it really mean to be “saved?” see: Different fruit, same good news. [1]]
But just like my dad, who recognized the importance of improving my gross motor skills for operating machinery safely, there was One even more determined that I understood the enduring significance of being able to identify the red flags of deception.
Both forced me to have skin in the game.
To ignore the responsibility of diverting sin’s authority until standing virtually in the full face of its influence is to assume the naïveté of a thirteen year old.
It’s just asking for trouble.