Steering Clear of Evil

“Abstain from every form of evil” (I Thessalonians 5:22).

This week, I spent some time reading from the writings of the great American Poet/Philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Among some of his meditations and prayers I found a one sentence admonition that stopped me in my tracks.

Row Away

“Call on God, but row away from the rocks.”

In my fifty years of pastoral ministry, I have witnessed some who were professing Christians make shipwreck of their faith, resulting from a flawed philosophy that since one’s sins have been forgiven by a profession of faith in Christ, little dalliances with evil will be will do no harm. Even the Apostle Paul ran into those with this attitude and he too warned them to row away from the rocks, “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 5:20-6:2).

The writer of the Letter of Jude, saw it necessary to warn the church about some who were bringing this philosophy into the church, “Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality…” (Jude 1:3-4).

Those who would use the grace of God as an excuse for sin, have never truly experienced the grace of God. When the grace of God, in all of its wonder, breaks upon one’s heart, the motive of life will be to stay as far away from evil and sin they possibly can, not see how close they can get to it without being burned.

Here is that admonition given to us by the Apostle Johhn, “And everyone who has their hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him practices sin; no one who practices sin has seen Him or knows Him. Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.” (I John 3:3-8).

As I have already stated, though we are saved by grace and not by works (Ephesians 2:9) the result of that grace received will be a growing desire to please our Lord in all that we do. Do any of us pull that off perfectly. No! We are all too often let down by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life (I John 2:16). And that’s where the grace of God covers our frailties, but we are never called to make an excuse for our frailties and then surrender to them.

In his excellent Commentary on the New Testament, William Barclay says this about the Thessalonian passage that I quoted above, “The Christian must use Christ as the touchstone by which he tests all things; and even when it is hard he must keep on doing the fine thing and hold himself aloof from every kind of evil.”

In his translation of the New Testament in Modern English, J.B. Phillips quotes the Thessalonian passage like this, “Steer clear of evil in any form.” Which, brings us full circle, back to the quote from Emerson, “Call on God, but row away from the rocks.”