In the following devotion from Charles Spurgeon, this man of God so powerful in Christ, offers encouragement along the same lines as this Apprising Ministries piece Christians Are Known By Name.

Today, may you hear the voice of the Lord as He says to you, “Welcome home.”:

Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. (Luke 23:34, KJV)

When a man is ignorant and does not know what to do, what should he do? Well, he should do nothing till he does know. But here is the mischief of it: that when we did not know, yet we choose to do the wrong thing. If we did not know, why did we not choose the right thing? But being in the dark, we never turned to the right but always blundered to the left, from sin to sin. Does not this show us how depraved our hearts are?

Though we are seeking to be right, when we are let alone, we go wrong of ourselves. Leave a child alone; leave a man alone; leave a tribe alone without teaching and instruction; what comes of it? Why, the same as when you leave a field alone. It never, by any chance, produces wheat or barley. Leave it alone, and there are rank weeds and thorns and briars, showing that the natural set of the soil is toward producing that which is worthless.

You needed light, but you shut your eyes to the sun. You were thirsty, but you shut your eyes to the sun. You were thirsty but you would not drink of the living spring; and so your ignorance, though it was there, was a criminal ignorance, which you must confess before the Lord. Oh, come to the Cross, you who have been there before and have lost your burden there! Come and confess your guilt over again, and clasp the Cross afresh, and look to Him Who bled upon it, and praise His dear Name that He once prayed for you, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Charles Spurgeon, At the Master’s Feet, April 22)