“He’s a rebel and he’ll never ever be any good. He’s a rebel ‘cause he never ever does what he should.” [Songwriter: Gene Pitney.] [He’s a Rebel lyric, copyright Kanjian Music, Royalty Network, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.]

How many of you sung that as you read it? I think you have to be a certain age in order to remember it. You may not qualify for that. So, you can ask one of your older relatives or friends to help you. The glory of the rebel back in the day was the leather, the motorcycle, the t-shirt with a pack of cigarettes rolled in the sleeve, and the penetrating eyes. The eyes were key to the overall rebel look because that’s where you saw a lack of fear and great confidence. This was the picture of a rebel at the time the rebel song was written. I’m sure there is a different picture of a rebel now; but in the end, a rebel is a rebel. Parents, through the ages, have warned their children to not rebel with their words and actions. The trouble is we are born rebels, and there’s only one hope for each of us. We have to remember that, or we will begin to think everyone else is a rebel but us.

Let’s get serious about our own rebellion. We can define rebellion as any act contrary to God’s way. Ouch! That hurt! This truly makes us all rebels, doesn’t it? God makes this clear to us in Genesis just before the flood.

“The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually . . . for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” [Genesis 6:5, 8:21b.]

These verses make it clear to us that we are not born sinless. We are born sinners who continually choose to rebel against God’s ways. Our hearts are desirous of what we want, and we will do all we can to get it. Is there such a thing as ignorance? Is it always rebellion? Let’s talk about ignorance, which is the lack of knowledge or training. Children do so many things in ignorance. As an example, in the first grade, I learned my letters and loved to spell. One Christmas, we were visiting my aunt in Lincoln Park. The living room was full of adults. My cousin and I were in her bedroom, and she was reading the bible to me. She said the word, hell. I really had never heard it up until then. I asked her how to spell it. You guessed it! I wanted all the adults to know what I knew. I walked out in the living room and stood before all those people and said, “H-E-L-L, hell.” I thought my mom was going to have a heart attack. I was ignorant of even the meaning of this word.

As followers of Christ, one of the things we don’t do very well is to understand the ignorance of a new believer. There are new believers who have no idea what the bible says. An example of this has happened when a co-existing couple realize that their living arrangement is not the way God intended it. The idea of sex only being for marriage is so contrary to the world. Truth is they just don’t know. We need to recognize ignorance and not be so quick to judge.

“The time of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” [Acts 17:30.]

When we are growing in Christ, we gain a greater understanding of God’s ways. Repentance is how we handle the former ignorance. We are to turn from our own ways and to God’s ways. When we continue in our sin, then we are rebelling against God.

The answer for the rebel is Jesus Christ, our Savior. He didn’t rebel; but he chose to sacrifice himself in obedience, even to death on a cross. He did this so that we, rebels, could find forgiveness. He died for my rebellion so that I don’t have to. What a glorious truth! What a glorious gospel! What a wonderful Savior!

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” [Romans 5:8.]