Abstain from every form of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:22

 Typically, in many situations, there is a right way and a wrong way of doing things. The decision is left up to you to chose how you’ll proceed. Both have consequences, good and bad, but the truth is you have to live with each decision you make. Sometimes those decisions affect you for your entire lifetime.

 Today’s scripture gives us some pretty good advice, abstain from every form of evil. What is evil? Anything that is opposite of God’s expectations of you and the moral laws set forth under His authorship. Lying, cheating, committing sexual acts outside marriage, drunkenness, the list is endless. Doesn’t God want you to have a fulfilling life? YES! But His standards of living are to benefit you over the long term, from the here and now and into eternity. But there is a certain form of evil that you might not have considered.

 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is a sin. James 4:17

 As a child of God, you are gifted with His Holy Spirit. The Spirit communicates with you daily; helping you with your journey through this life, guiding you in the will of God, convicting you of sin, and instructing you on what to do. A good example of this: you notice a homeless person on the street corner begging for money and you sense a strong desire to give that $20 bill that’s in your wallet, but you refuse. This could be considered a sin. I can tell you personally that God has put a thought into my mind to do something, and when I followed through, blessings followed. When I rejected the thought, I usually endured some consequence for my choice to reject His instruction. That thought to reject God’s instruction is most likely coming from Satan, speaking lies to you. Satan did that very thing to Eve and Adam, and they brought sin into God’s creation, and we are still suffering today as a result of their disobedience.

 Not everything in life has the appearance of evil. It’s best to always stay prayed up and when you hear the voice of God speaking to you, make the choice to follow in obedience. God will bless you for pursuing the good things He offers in this life and into eternity. God bless!