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.