Gracious Father, we confess this morning our sin of ignorance. God, only you are all-
knowing. You created our minds to be finite. You said in Deuteronomy 29:29, “The
secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us
and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

When we confess that we have sinned by not knowing, we are confessing our failure to
learn the things you have clearly revealed to us. There is much in this world that we do
know. We have intimate knowledge of the finest details of our jobs, our hobbies, our
political points of view, the stats of our favorite athletes, and the lyrics of our favorite
songs. But when we have an opportunity to give an answer for the hope that lies within us
we often struggle to find the words.

When Your servant, Paul, visited the church at Corinth he said, “I decided to know
nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2). Paul was not
ignorant of other things. Rather, he determined to understand all things through the
surpassing wisdom of the Gospel. When You have enlightened our minds with the beauty
and power of Jesus, to fail to understand our world according to the cross is a heinous sin
of willful ignorance. God, forgive us.

Forgive us, and teach us to read the news through the lens of the Gospel. Teach us to pray
for those who may seek our harm. Teach us to mourn for those, and seek the aid of those,
who have fallen into the destructive trap of sin. Teach us to see even those with whom we
adamantly disagree as Your image bearers. As Americans we thank You for our
freedoms. But, on this Independents Day weekend, teach us to love even our enemies
more than we love our freedoms. Teach us love our Bibles more than we love our
Constitution. Teach us to live on this earth as Jesus did. To love our neighbors as Jesus
did. To be ready to lay down our lives as Jesus did. To be compassionate toward the
needy as Jesus was. We cannot know all there is to know, but may we not be ignorant of
Jesus.

Father, in our information age there is no shortage of things to know. Yet, we confess we
live many of our days in ignorance of the Gospel. May we determine to know nothing but
Jesus Christ and Him crucified, for your glory and our good, Amen.