At a Kiwanis Club meeting some years ago, a visiting speaker told a shocking story. He related a story of a young mother in Africa that offered her child to a crocodile god. At the end of his story, he told his audience that he felt this woman would be safe in Judgment because she was sincere in what she had done. She served this crocodile god, and God would save her because of her ignorance.

I wonder how many people today believe that ignorance is an excuse for disobedience to the God of heaven. Many have believed this in the past and have suffered the consequences. God’s laws were clear from the beginning.

In Second Samuel 6, we read about Uzzah, a man whom God struck dead for touching the Ark. He was a sincere man, but his sincerity didn’t save him.

Exodus 25:14 and First Chronicles 15:15 both show the process for carrying the Ark of the Covenant. Only the priests were allowed to move the Ark, and it was to be carried on poles. Uzzah disobeyed God when he touched the Ark as it was being transported on a wagon, and he lost his life.

In First Kings 13, the Lord sent a prophet to Jeroboam, the king. He was to make some predictions, and he was given some special instructions about returning home.  He was told that he was to return home a different way and that he was not to eat bread or drink water in that country.

As he started his journey home, an old prophet found him sitting under an oak tree. He asked him to go home with him and eat a meal. The prophet of God told him that he could not go home with him, but the old prophet insisted. He said, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water’. But he lied to him” (First Kings 13: 18 ESV).

This prophet of God was sincere in his reason for not accepting the king’s invitation. He was sincere in accepting the old prophet’s invitation and returning home with him. His sincerity didn’t help him.

The Lord revealed to the old prophet that the prophet of God would be punished. He said, “Your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers” (First Kings 13:22).

The prophet left and started home and was killed by a lion (verse 24). This man’s sincerity in believing a lie resulted in his death.

As Peter and the other apostles stood before the crowd on the Day of Pentecost, they presented a detailed account of the prophecies of the coming of Jesus.

The Jews’ ignorance and sincerity in killing the Son of God did not excuse their vicious crime. Peter made it clear they were guilty of murder. “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:36).

Saul of Tarsus is a perfect example of sincerity. Acts 9 reveals Saul’s threats and murders against the Church. An appearance by the Lord sent him on a trip into Damascus where he met a man named Ananias. Here Ananias taught him about Jesus, and he obeyed the gospel.

His sincerity in persecuting Christians did not change the fact that he was wrong. Had he continued in these persecutions, we would be reading a very different story.

We need to read the scripture, not to look for what we want it to say, but rather look at what it really says. Jesus said, “…If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”(John 8:31-32). 

In writing to the Philippians, Paul said, “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ” (Philippians 1:9-10 KJV).

It is not enough to be sincere; we must be sincere without offence.

Sandra Oliver