Proverbs 24:11-12

Deliver those being taken away to death,
and hold back those slipping to the slaughter.
If you say, “But we did not know about this,”
does not the one who evaluates hearts consider?
Does not the one who guards your life know?
Will he not repay each person according to his deeds?

Remember that great scene from the Matrix when Cypher is about to pull a Judas and betray everyone he knows? He says:

“I know this steak doesn’t exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth the matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After 9 years, you know what I realize, ignorance is bliss.”

You know those people who use that phrase to get out of stuff? That drives me insane! You know what I’m talking about. Maybe not the exact phrase, but something close.

They’re the ones who know someone who close their eyes and plug their ears when they’re about to hear something that might require them to act or get involved when they really don’t want to. Especially when the reason they don’t want to get involved is just laziness. You’re about to share something with them that you could actually use their help on, and they do whatever they can to divert the topic to something else that won’t require anything of them.

They think that if they don’t know about it, then they won’t be held accountable for it. But, that’s not true. You knew something, but did nothing. That’s a bad thing too. “But I didn’t know!” You may cry out. While you may have done whatever you could to stay out of the situation, that doesn’t mean you didn’t know something. And the fact you just didn’t know the details, doesn’t mean you didn’t have a responsibility to act.

God doesn’t judge us based on our side of the story, or our defense. He judges us based on what He has decided is right. And that is where we need to try to live. Not in this pretend “I didn’t know” land.

Because in reality, that doesn’t exist. We know. We know when things are as they should be. We know when we should try to help. We know when we should try to get involved and save someone who may be about to suffer a great deal if we don’t act.  We like to have excuses not to get involved. It can be messy when we find ourselves in the midst of someone else’s problems. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have to.

Ignorance is not bliss, action is.