IGNORANCE IS A CHOICE

Recently I was enjoying an early spring bike ride and meditating upon the great questions of life. Okay, maybe not too deeply in thought but long rides do give me the opportunity to exercise my mind. I have an app (Endomondo, for those who are interested in such things) on my iPhone that uses GPS to obtain data on my ride. This app tracks distance, speed, and various other details. It will even tell you where the closest Starbucks is so you can take a pit stop. Okay, that’s not true, but the Starbucks app will, so it’s all good! I’ve been using Endomondo since November so as I was riding the other day I found myself thinking about how accurate it is. That’s when it occurred to me, to answer my question about the accuracy of the app all I needed to do was perform a Google search. Internet technology has evolved to the place where if you and I have a question all we have to do is search. As a self-confessed information junkie I find myself frequently searching out an answer to the question of the moment. It’s not unusual for me to watch TV with my iPad nearby. If I have a question about the game in progress or an athlete, I just do a search.

As I was riding my bike and contemplating this most important question I started thinking about a spiritual spin on this topic. Here’s the insight that occurred to me while riding 13.2 mph (according to my app): IGNORANCE IS A CHOICE. We all have questions. The explosion of knowledge has resulted in more questions than ever before in human history (more knowledge = more questions). Yet the most important questions of life have findable answers. To take this a step further spiritual blindness is a condition a person chooses. Oh, you could probably come up with exceptions to this statement, like the native who lives in an Amazonian jungle, completely disconnected from the civilized world.

In the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 4:29, it communicates this thought: “From there you will search again for the LORD your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him.” (NLT) The “there” in this verse is referring to a place of godlessness, a location dominated by false gods and people who are spiritually distant from the Living God. The point being made in verse 29 is that even in a godless place surrounded by godless people, a person can find the Living God IF they sincerely search for Him. This isn’t an isolated thought but one that is repeated multiple times in the bible. It is a spiritual truth that calls out to each one of us to pursue God with “all (our) heart and soul.”

I remember reading in a book by Dallas Willard this statement, “God doesn’t make himself obvious.” It’s not as if God is hiding himself from us, or as if the truth about God is a mystery that’s unsolvable. We simply have to seek Him. The God who created us knows we have an innate need to “seek.” There’s something about the search for truth and for God, where we have a need to put forth effort, energy, and even struggle, to find the answers.

Over the years I’ve encountered people who claim to be agnostics. Basically, they believe that the existence of God cannot be proved or disproved. This may seem extreme, but I say that agnostics are lazy! Agnostics have questions about God, but they’re not sincerely seeking answers. It’s the equivalent of a person refusing to do a Google search.

I want to look further into the ideas of seeking God, agnostics, and spiritual laziness, so stay tuned to this blog.

“If you look for me in earnest, you will find me when you seek me.” 

Jeremiah 29:13 NLT