1 Thessalonians 5:22 “Abstain from every form of evil.”
While the book of Proverbs warns us to avoid the path of the wicked and stay away from the way of evil (Proverbs 4:14 “Do not enter the path of the wicked, And do not walk in the way of evil. 15 Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn away from it and pass on”) the apostle Paul PUSHES us to a new level. He calls on us to make serious decisions about ABSTAINING from any APPEARANCE of evil behavior!
What does it mean to abstain? To ABSTAIN is to totally reject. It means to stay away from. It carries the strongest meaning of DON’T DO IT!!
And we are not to do evil to the level where there is not even the APPEARANCE of us doing evil. It is at a level where another person does not even see something to think something.
Now we must get in our Bibles to learn what is good and what is evil, and be ever so aware that there will be those who will call good evil and evil good. (Isaiah 5:20) We must know the difference. As well we must remember well that victory over temptation many times comes down to the decision of STAYING AWAY from the people and places that provide temptations.
DON’T place yourself in places where or with people with whom you are prone to FALL!
It may be that today you need to step up some decision-making! You need to decide to decide that you are not going to give opportunities to temptation. You need to decide that you are going to decide that you will not just avoid areas of temptations, but you will abstain from there being the slightest appearance of involvement with evil.
How does 1 Thessalonians 5:22 move you to a new level of living a holy life?
Continue Strong, with strong convictions of doing right and AVOIDING wrong,
And remember to daily DATE the Word