Right now, our culture is dangerously confused about what is right and wrong, what is good and evil. We see that confusion in the debates around sexuality and gender. We see it in the conversation about the sanctity of life, when life begins, and when life should end. We also see it in the discussion about how to handle laws and crime, both locally and nationally, especially concerning immigration right now. There’s just a lot of confusion.

But the Bible has been given to us by God to bring clarity. It is God’s revelation to us. It’s where God tells us what He thinks about a topic. And as we turn to the Bible, we clearly see that right and wrong isn’t fuzzy. It’s crystal clear. There is a definite demarcation separating them. There is definite good, and there is definite evil.

And God, in 1 Thessalonians 5:22, unmistakably communicates to us how we are to relate to evil. He says to abstain from it. To “abstain” is to hold yourself back from something. It’s to keep away from it. To avoid something. We are to abstain from evil. And God doesn’t just say this type of evil or that type of evil. No, abstain from EVERY form of evil. All evil is bad, and we should avoid it in every instance and every form.

But that begs the question, what is evil? And here’s where we go back to what God has given us in the Bible. Evil is whatever the Bible says is evil. What the Bible says, God says. So, whatever the Bible says is evil, God says is evil. He is our standard for right and wrong, good and evil. Not the culture. Not that attention-seeking, money-hungry influencer. Not that well-meaning activist who’s driving some agenda. No, it’s God, and He’s clearly given us His determination of good and evil in the Bible.

The wise person will read the Bible and heed the Bible, staying away from everything it tells you to stay away from. Abstain from every form of evil as defined by the Bible.

Change begins in you!