If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. James 4:17
The criminal had been apprehended, and the detective asked the perpetrator why he had brazenly attacked someone with so many witnesses present. The response was startling: “I knew they wouldn’t do anything; people never do.” That comment pictures what is called “guilty knowledge”—choosing to ignore a crime even though you know it is being committed.
The apostle James addressed a similar kind of guilty knowledge, saying, “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them” (James 4:17).
Through His great salvation of us, God has designed us to be agents of good in the world. Ephesians 2:10 affirms, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” These good works aren’t the cause of our salvation; rather, they’re the result of our hearts being changed by God’s Holy Spirit taking up residence in our lives. The Spirit even gives us spiritual gifts to equip us to accomplish those things for which God has recreated us (see 1 Corinthians 12:1-11).
As God’s workmanship, let’s yield to His purposes and the empowering of His Spirit so that we can be His instruments for good in a world that desperately needs Him.
Review 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 and read about the spiritual gifts. What gifts has the Spirit given you? How can you exercise them?
Loving God, thank You for the salvation You’ve provided as a free gift of grace. Please give me the courage and wisdom to know how best to serve You and others.
Discover your God-given calling here.
INSIGHT
Paul has just outlined his prayer for the readers of his letter (Ephesians 1:15-23). When he prays, he asks God on their behalf that “the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you” (v. 18). But who, exactly, is he praying for? The letter to the Ephesians may have been intended to be “circular,” that is, for circulation among other churches. Specifically, however, these first readers were gentile Christians in the port city of Ephesus. Having prayed for them, Paul then gives guidance on how to fulfill God’s purpose. God “made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions” (2:5). He “raised us up with Christ” (v. 6) to “show the incomparable riches of his grace” (v. 7). This is why we “do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (v. 10).