If you know the right thing to do and don't do it, this is a sin to you

James 4:17 (NASB)

Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Often in my past when I taught new Christians the Bible, I gave them fair warning  They were going to learn a lot about what the Bible teaches and this, in turn, was going to create problems for them.  The problems relate to knowledge.  New knowledge about God and His ways and His commands that heretofore they had no idea existed.  And now that they were going to learn this new knowledge they would then have no excuse that they didn’t know that they were to act and speak and think in certain ways.  James 4:17 was what I had in mind when giving this warning to people about to begin their first serious efforts to learn some of what the Bible teaches. 

James is saying is that if you know that you are to do something and you don’t do it, you have sinned.   It’s the same line of thought as he wrote earlier in his letter that if you say you have faith, but don’t prove it through your good works, your faith is dead (James 2:14-26).  Here, what you are not doing is a sin for you, but not necessarily for another person who also does not do it.  You cannot judge what another person knows about what are the right things to do.  Only that person knows and, of course, God knows.  You only know for sure what God wants from you.   

You learn from your Bible that you are to read it, study it, meditate on it and memorize some of it.  Once you know this is God’s command for you and you don’t do it………..you have sinned.  Your neighbor, co-worker, best friend, spouse, who does not read the Bible or study it or meditate on it or memorize it, if they have never been taught that this is the right thing to do, then they have not sinned like you have for not doing this.  Even if you know that they have been taught that this is the right thing to do, you cannot judge them.  You can only judge yourself.  You are judged on what you know, not on what you don’t know. 

You learn that you should pray.  If you don’t pray, it is a sin you have committed (or, more correctly, omitted) while not a sin for another who does not know that he/she should pray.  You learn to put others first.  You learn serve and encourage others.  You learn to give thanks in all things.  You learn to help “the least of these”.  You learn to worship God and attend church to encourage others.  You learn to stop cursing, stop sinning sexually, stop telling dirty jokes, stop calling others names, stop boasting, and so forth, but if you continue to do these things, to you it is sin.  You also learn that you have a spiritual gift from the Holy Spirit in you that needs to be used for the benefit of others in the church.  If you are not using that gift, if you are not active in your church, you have sinned.   

God holds you accountable for what you know, not what you don’t know.  That’s why I warned those who wanted to learn what the Bible teaches that what they learn will elevate them to a higher standard of obedience and accountability.

So, does this mean that you are better off to remain ignorant so that you cannot be judged for what you know?  No, of course not.  Whatever God commands you are to do, He does so in order to enable you to live the most abundant, enjoyable, glorious, joyful, peaceful and contented life possible.  Do you want to miss all this?

Think over carefully what you are not doing that you know you should be doing.  Whatever that omission is, to you it is sin.  Remove it by confessing your sin and taking action to do what you know the Lord wants you to be doing for Him and others.