“But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” –1 Timothy 1:13-14
It’s a question that has no easy answer: How much of our unbelief towards God comes from our own initiative, and how much of it is simply ignorance?
In his letter to his disciple Timothy, Paul indicates that his own hatred of Christianity—and therefore Christ Himself—stemmed from ignorance. He did not believe in Jesus, and therefore he had no idea what he was really doing when he hunted Christians down and dragged them to prison and most likely execution. He thought he was honoring God, when in reality, he was hurting God’s chosen ones.
Jesus said something similar when He hung dying on the cross. As the people whom He had come to save mocked Him as He suffered acute agony, He spared some of His precious breath to beg God, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
In one sense, these people knew exactly what they were doing. They had chosen to kill Jesus. They had chosen to refuse His message of reconciliation with God, preferring their own understanding to Jesus’ new teachings.
But they didn’t really know what they were doing. Because they didn’t believe, they didn’t realize that they were killing God Himself. They didn’t realize that in their misguided zeal for the appearance of righteousness, they had scorned the one who is the epitome of righteousness.
And therein lies the opening for mercy. We are so twisted and blinded by our own sin that we cannot believe. It is impossible for us to understand what we are really doing when we reject God.
So God takes the initiative to open our eyes and show us the truth. Ever so gently, with patient persistence, He removes the scales of unbelief and invites us to experience Him as He truly is. When we come to our senses and realize just what we have done against a holy God, that same holy God is there already with open arms, assuring us that He’s already forgiven us.
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