“as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance.”
as in your ignorance
“Ignorance” here is ignorance of God and His norms. Without God, Asia Minor Christians were vulnerable to lust (1:18; cf. Acts 17:30; Ephesians 4:17-18). They owned no purpose for their existence.
Ephesians 4:18 says,
“having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.”
God wants to save us from a spiritual shipwreck. If in our ignorance, we go our own way, disaster will result. God expects us to plan and build a future. It is responsible for putting well-placed goals in our lives. However, to set goals without God is to trivialize Him. When we do this, He may let us make a shipwreck of our future.
“My times are in Your hand;
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies,
And from those who persecute me” (Psalm 31:15).
PRINCIPLE:
We can trust God to work out His will in our lives.
APPLICATION:
Can you trust God to work out His will in your life? Younger people have their whole lives in front of them. But if they stubbornly plan without God in the center, God will derail their train. The only place we will find lasting satisfaction is in the center of God’s will.
Ignorance keeps us from discovering God’s plan for our lives. We make plans in ignorance. We chose the university we will attend without consulting God. We plan what we will become without asking the Lord. We dream about the future and do not consider God in our plans. Somewhere along the way, God will flag us down.
God is interested in saving more than our soul; he wants to save our lives as well (Luke 9:56).
