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Daily Devotion: 1 Thessalonians 5:22-23 (2)

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1 Thessalonians 5:22-23    "Abstain from all appearance of evil.  (23)  And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

How can we abstain from all appearances of evil?  Paul gave us some good instructions in Ephesians 5:17-20,  "Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.  (18)  And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;  (19)  Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;  (20)  Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

How can we be filled with the Spirit whereby we are able to use discernment in our lives?  These two questions are the reason I included verses 19 and 20 from the Ephesian quote.   Paul answers those questions for us.  In order to avoid one thing, I must aim toward another.  If I am going to avoid evil and even the very appearance of it, then I must aim toward glorifying my Lord in my words and actions.  He tells us to be filled with the Spirit by "speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs."  As we do these things, the Lord is at the forefront of our hearts and minds. We then start to make melody in our hearts to the Lord.

Folks from Grace Church know about me and my word definitions. Well, just now the Lord said to me, "Why don't you look up the definition for the word, melody?"  I thought I knew the definition. I thought I even knew the definition from Strong's Concordance. But He said, "Dig a little deeper."  The root meaning of the word means to rub out, as removing kernels of corn from the husk. So my mind says, "What?"  He said, in order to truly sing and make melody unto the Lord, you must rub out the husks of your life.  "Self" is removed when rubbing out the husks of my life while making melody unto the Lord. While rubbing the husks (hardness) of my life, I must lay down pride, anger, resentment, envy, jealousy, self-righteousness and all other things of the flesh.  Abstaining from even the appearance of evil becomes much easier and my life is filled with the glory of the Lord as I sing praises unto the Lord.

Paul concludes these thoughts by saying, "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly."  So again I go to the word definition of "sanctify".  I thought I knew what the word meant. But in looking up the definition, the word carries a double meaning.  The Lord has sanctified, or made us holy, through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. He sees us as being purified by the blood.  But the second meaning comes from the viewpoint of others around us.  If we seek to be filled with the Spirit of God and will abstain from even the appearance of evil, the Lord will  sanctify us in the eyes of self and others. According to Strong's Concordance, the word means to venerate. Well, I had to look up the meaning of that word also. It means to be regarded with respect and honor.  Paul is saying, if we follow the Word of God, there will be a degree of respect and honor that is bestowed upon us.   May we do it, not to be held in high esteem by others; rather, to be held in the will of God for our lives.

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