Avoid even the appearance of impropriety

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “You made it! Now what?”

Our Bible verse for today: “Don’t set foot on the path of the wicked; don’t proceed in the way of the evil ones. Avoid it; don’t travel on it. Turn away from it and pass it by.” Proverbs 4:14-15 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Avoid even the appearance of impropriety”

As we continue to think about the fact that God brought us through 2025 and we now have an entire new year of opportunities before us. As we consider how we can make good choices that lead us to good outcomes, we come to the excellent advice given by King Solomon over three thousand years ago in Proverbs 4:14-15. Please read it again.

Henry David Thoreau once wrote, “It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil.” That’s exactly what Solomon meant in Proverbs 4:14-15. Don’t even start down that path! Even if you think you can get away with it, even if you think nobody will ever know, don’t even start down that path.

I once heard a security expert in a television interview make this statement, “Nowadays every person should assume they are always being watched.” What he meant was that there is surveillance everywhere – even in places we would never expect it to be. We are “alone” and “unobserved” much less frequently than we think we are, and therefore we need to give extra thought to the things we do and say when we believe we are alone and unobserved.

But that’s really nothing new. Our actions have always been under constant observation by God. In Luke 12:2-3 Jesus said, “There is nothing covered that won’t be uncovered, nothing hidden that won’t be made known. Therefore, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in an ear in private rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.” The author of the letter to the Hebrews reminded us that we are “surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.”

That being the case it should be our desire to always conduct ourselves in such a way that it would not cause us to be embarrassed before people or before God. Now granted, that’s a high bar. None of us is perfect and none of us would be comfortable living under a microscope of constant observation. Being that squeaky clean is virtually impossible. But it’s a good goal to strive for. The desire to be that good is a good attitude to have.

Billy Graham established a personal standard for himself and for his closest associates that in both their public and private lives they needed to strive to “avoid even the appearance of impropriety.” Now again, none of us is perfect (least of all me) (and least of all you), but we should have high standards that we strive to meet – and avoiding even the appearance of anything inappropriate is a pretty good goal to have.

That’s true for all of us. We should strive to conduct ourselves in such a way – in public and in private, that we avoid even the appearance of impropriety.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

(If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Share this:

Related

Leave a comment Cancel reply