CONSCIOUS LIVING: You are no longer ignorant | by SMAJ

The book of Acts of the Apostles chapter seventeen verse thirty talks about a time of ignorance among the Gentiles that God had decided to wink at. Scripture says those times of ignorance, God has winked at. Another version says he has overlooked.

I took time to study this scripture because I have realized over time that Ministers of God – we Ministers of God - have a way of using that scripture to justify some acts that I do not altogether agree to in the context of what the Spirit through Paul is talking about.

Now, we understand that in that particular scenario, which applies to all human race, Apostle Paul was bringing them from somewhere to another sphere of living altogether.

He addressed the fact that they were idol worshippers which was very obvious – but he was explaining to them that they could quit and when they leave idol worshipping, they come into the kingdom and that period of idol worshipping, God has categorized to be a period of ignorance.

But we know that when a man comes into Christ, he is a new creation altogether – one end, you have them not in Christ and the other end you have them in Christ.

This scripture would be applicable if they are not in Christ but it will not be correct if they are in Christ. If they are in Christ, they have a new nature. They have a new focus; they are inspired by the ultimate goal. They do not just act the way they do when they were under the Lordship of Satan but according to a new order of things. They act as one under the Lordship of Christ.

When we apply that scripture to someone under the Lordship of Christ, then we won’t be correct at all. We would be far from the truth!
The truth remains that we are saved and when we were saved, we come under the Lordship of Christ and we do not operate the way we do before when we were in the world – for now we have become the light and salt of the earth. We are vessels unto honour - vessels that radiate God’s glory.

We are kept on track by the knowledge that our lives has become a fragrance that ought to be spread to the world that had not known Christ and we would be mindful of the way we live.

We live consciously and deliberately – and at times, we would choose to not enjoy or be ravished with some pleasures of this life. Some might not necessarily be ungodly but we choose to draw a line of resistance. We choose to place our appetite under check.

Just like Apostle Paul speaks about eating and not eating. Eating in the actual sense is not wrong but if it is going to cause a brother to stumble, we can do without it. I often like to compare sex with appetite for food, although it is a weightier matter.

When you cannot caution yourself – put your body under control when it comes to sexual desires and pleasure, then you are only saying that you are no better than an animal which would be an outright insult on who you are. Even when you are lawfully married, you would still find insatiability in the institution. It’s more like eating – you do not eat all the time.

Some, we understand, live to eat while some eat to live. Food was created in the real sense to be taken to live. We live to eat! We eat to keep our body healthy. Sex, like food is an appetite that can be checked. Dr Myles Munroe eloquently describes it thus, ‘A man that does not see the ultimate, becomes a slave to the immediate’.

When we apply this scripture holistically, we would be wrong because there has been a transformation from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. There is a new nature and if there is a new nature, definitely that scripture does not apply to the new creation man because he is no longer ignorant about the tenets of faith.

We are no longer ignorant and the scripture says the times of ignorance. What about the times of knowledge? That is the question we should ask. When we come into the faith, we are in the times of knowledge not ignorance. We are in the times of accountability and responsibility.

If I look lustfully upon a maiden and develop thoughts in my heart that became inordinate and proceeded into having a sexual affair with her (if she was that simple), that would not be a time of ignorance. I took time to ponder on it – it was not in my nature to do.

That cannot be equated to the high degree of pervasions and orgies that is prevalent in our days. If it were a degenerated man, you don’t question the act because that would be asking a fish not to swim but walk on dry land.

The nature has to be changed. But when you are in the kingdom, your nature restricts you because you now have an understanding of how sacred sexual acts are before the Father.

Selah.

(culled from the book, "Gaining More Grounds" by Segun M. Alonge Jr with Olufemi T. Olayinka)