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In my Christian life of over 30 years now I have observed more lives ruined by the appearance of sin than the actual commitment of sin. There is an all-too-forgotten verse in the Bible, I Thessalonians 5:22 "Abstain from all appearance of evil." I don’t have to go to a Strong’s Concordance to define that verse. However appearance is defined in the Strong’s as "external or outward appearance". I reminded my children of this verse so often and that God says we should walk circumspectly---which means to look in all directions at once. We also often talked about the fact that man looks on the outward part of us while God looks on our heart. Our reputations, our name that is to be guarded and protected is determined by what man sees as he looks at us. A good testimony for God depends on what man observes. So what does this mean? Well I often told my children not to start a rumor by giving man something negative to talk about. An example of this would be, don’t go and buy a newspaper in a liquour store. Someone may see you leaving and therein is room for a rumor. My daughter and her friend learned this while in high school. They went to a clothing store next to a movie theatre and rumor was born by someone seeing them leave what was misunderstood as the theatre. While my daughter and her husband were dating there were a few times when Andy would need to take me somewhere in his car. Because I am so noticeably older than Andy we never gave a thought to me riding in the front seat with him....he looked 12 years old and me over 30 years old. C: On the other hand his brother, walking circumspectly and considering appearance of evil, never transported his mother-in-law in his front seat with him. Why? She looked no older than her daughter and "appearance" would lend to rumor. Many may say that is stupid thinking and every one is entitled to their opinions. However, so many times in God’s Word he admonishes us to protect our names, our testimonies, lend no place to the devil, and to "abstain from all appearance of evil." I think ‘propriety’ should come back in to vogue.
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