“Abstain from all appearance of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22).

Dad was having quite a conversation with his twenty-two year-old son, Timothy. It centered on an activity that Timothy was planning to go to. This wise dad said, “Son, obviously you are an adult. You no longer live in my home under my rules and as you used to put it ’my regulations.’ It’s no longer Dad’s law. You trusted the Lord Jesus as your Savior when you were a child. You grew by leaps and bounds in your love for the Lord Jesus and in your desire to serve Him. Throughout your teenage years you took a strong stand for Christ and were a model of what the Lord Jesus could do in and through the life of a young man surrendered to Him. You even paid quite a severe price by not practicing sports on Wednesday nights and not playing on Sundays. Now that you are an adult, I guess it will be up to you as to whether you go to this place or not. But I just want you to stop and think of one thing. Please remember that the Lord Jesus is always with you through the indwelling Holy Spirit. If you think the Lord Jesus would be comfortable there, then I guess you should go ahead and go. But if you have even the slightest doubt that the Lord Jesus would be uncomfortable there, then it is important to remember that we are to abstain even from the appearance of evil. Even if you are not sinning, would your association appear that you are?” Dad asked. Timothy was quiet the rest of that afternoon and didn’t say much before he went back to his college apartment that evening. The next day Tim called his dad and said, “Thanks, Dad, for the talk yesterday. I’ve had time to think it over, and I guess I’m not going to go. Maybe I wouldn’t have sinned, but it may look like I was.”

For today: We do not live in isolation, however, we do live in separation. This separation is from sin and unto our awesome and holy God.