Morning Journal
I Thessalonians 5:22
“abstain from every form of evil.”
The last entry was about the general evil that is to be avoided. Today’s focus will be more toward the individual. When we come to Christ He resides in us. The Holy Spirit guides us. It’s an amazing thing to think about. What a privilege that He cares so much and wants to be involved.
In God’s guidance, we can yield or resist. Some of this resistance is normal and He is patient. However, this resistance can become sin. James 4:17 says “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.” We should abuse God’s patience.
The James passage isn’t only about guidance. Sometimes we know the right thing, but do otherwise. It could be disobeying laws, contracts or established norms. This is an evil to be avoided.
The another area to be addressed is the matters of conscience. While we can agree on many things, each of our consciences have their own stances. Paul addresses this in Romans. There was controversy over eating meat and drinking wine. Some were boldly demonstrating their freedoms in front of others. Some onlookers were offended or encouraged to participate and stumbled. Paul says, “Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense” (14:20).
We are all in different stages of growth when it comes to our consciences. The point of the Romans passage is that there are things that we think are wrong, yet are confidently practiced by others. If we violate our conscience, then it’s sin. We may be frustrated by such limitations. We are to look to scripture and pray. More freedoms come with maturity. We need to be patient.
Lord, keep us from evil. Help us to respond to Your promptings. Help us to grow in grace while we adhere to our consciences.