Your Daily Devotional for October 31, 2006

 

October 31, 2006

 

 

Shining Light in a Dark World

by Dr. Paul Chappell

 

 

“Abstain from all appearance of evil.”

 

1 Thessalonians 5:22

 

 

As I’m sure you are aware, today is a holiday known as Halloween.  Over the years, it has been a common practice for children to get all dressed up in the evening and walk from door-to-door, asking for candy.  This sounds innocent enough, but “innocent” is far from how this day originated. 

While Halloween may seem to many as a time designed for fun and family bonding, it is actually a day set apart to celebrate evil spirits and to sacrifice to the devil!  Even in today’s culture, Halloween is closely associated to devil worship, witches, and evil, and it is considered a serious and even sacred day to those involved in this kind of lifestyle. I’m not sure about you, but I don’t even want to be near that kind of stuff!

Our text today tells us to “abstain from all appearance of evil.”  This is not a command to stay away from wickedness or evil, though we should; it is a command to avoid association with evil things. One definition of the word appearance is “an impression given by someone or something, although this may be misleading.”  This applies to many areas of our lives, and not just something like “trick-or-treating.”  If you go door-to-door tonight, I am sure you would not be doing so with the intent of celebrating the devil or worshipping evil spirits, but there are times in the Christian life when the Lord asks us to “sacrifice” what may look like simple fun for the sake of our testimonies and so we may shine as brighter lights for Him.

You most likely already practice the truth of this verse in other areas of your life.  Though it would not necessarily be wrong to walk into a bar and order a diet coke, most of us don’t do that.  Why?  We are avoiding the appearance of evil.  We not only honor the Lord when we abstain from such appearances, but we also minimize the chances of being influenced by wrong.  It may not necessarily be harmful to our bodies to get too close to a fire or too close to the edge of a cliff, but we usually don’t because there’s no need to even risk harming ourselves! 

As Christians, let’s choose today to be associated with Christ.  On a dark day such as Halloween, let’s choose to be the shining light God has called us to be!  I am so thankful to be associated with a God who chooses to express Himself as light rather than darkness! “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12).  I am so thankful that I serve a God of hope and peace! And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body;
and be ye thankful” (Colossians 3:15). 

On the eve of a month dedicated to thankfulness, I hope you’ll take a moment to thank the Lord for His goodness and for calling us out of darkness into His light! 

---

================================================
THIS IS AN AUTOMATED MESSAGE PLEASE DO NOT REPLY
================================================
Manage your online subscriptions at
http://www.dailyintheword.org/email/user-login.aspx

To Unsubscribe from this list please follow this link
http://www.dailyintheword.org/email/user-unsubscribe.aspx?s=4159&l=1