What You Don't Know Can Hurt You

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God

A bandito named Jorge, was operating along the Texas border. He was so successful, the Texas Rangers assigned extra agents to the Rio Grande to stop him.

Late one afternoon, he was spotted slipping across the river. So the agent trailed him, at a discreet distance, and watched him as he went into his favorite cantina to relax.

The Ranger slipped inside and managed to get the drop on Jorge. He pointed his pistol at him and said, “I know who you are, Jorge Rodriguez, and I have come to get all the money you have stolen from the banks of Texas. Unless you give it to me, I am going to pull the trigger.”

But there was a problem—Jorge didn’t speak English and the Texas Ranger did not know Spanish. They were at an impasse. About that time an enterprising villager said, “Do you want me translate for you?” The Ranger nodded and the villager proceeded to interpret the words of the Ranger in no uncertain terms. 

Nervously Jorge answered, “Tell the Ranger that I have not spent a cent of the money. If he will go to the north side of the well in the center of town and and count down five stones, he will find a loose one. All the money is behind it.”

“Well?” the Ranger asked. 

The translator said, “Jorge said he is a brave man, and ready to die.”

The old maxim it true: What you don’t know can hurt you! Christ followers know that that is true regarding our ignorance of sin, righteousness, and judgment. It leads to great sorrow in our lives.  

One blessing of the Spirit-filled life is the way the Holy Spirit warns us about sin and its consequences. Listen to the beloved disciple, John. He wrote, “When the Holy Spirit comes, He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.” [John 16:7-8] 

We would do well to embrace our Guide, the Holy Spirit. He speaks today. Are you listening? 

There is a way that seems right to man but it leads to destruction. Proverbs 14:12