| “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen…” |
| —Romans 1:20a |
“You must understand, Officer, I really didn’t know the speed limit through here was 30 miles per hour.”
Have you ever been stopped for speeding? Have you ever tried to talk your way out of a ticket by claiming ignorance of the posted limit?
One day, in the mid-1980s, I got two speeding tickets in a relatively short 50-minute period. I had rushed out from work at lunchtime to do two errands. Just feet from the entrance to the parking lot at the insurance company where I worked I was stopped for going 33 mph in a 30 mph zone.
On my way back to the office by a different route, less than an hour later, I was stopped again for going 34 mph in a 30 mph zone. In neither case did I try to beat the ticket. For in each case the speed limit was clearly posted.
The saddest part of the story is that the City of Hartford, Connecticut, added a surcharge to the state-mandated fine. The two tickets cost me a total of $750—money I frankly did not have to waste in such a foolish way.
You can argue that such a close tolerance was unfair. But, as I said, the city had signs prominently displayed that informed all citizens of the city’s 30 mph speed limit. And, the signs also included the words “Strictly Enforced.”
People routinely make excuses for their lack of knowledge. They try to claim ignorance even when the knowledge is very clearly evident. In our relationship to God, we simply can’t do that. We can't claim that the knowledge of His presence is not clearly seen. The Apostle Paul makes this declaration in Romans 1:20:
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
People cannot claim they don’t know about God. Everything around us declares His divine presence and His unending glory. Let’s begin this day grateful that we love and worship the God who first loved us. He has revealed Himself to us through His Son and through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. How very blessed we are to know Him! How grateful we must feel that He has so clearly revealed Himself to us.
Based on a blog originally posted on Thursday, April 14, 2016
