|
|
 |
Thoughts of...The Prime Directive
In the original Star Trek television series, Captain Kirk often quoted the Prime Directive regarding Star Fleet’s non-interference in alien cultures. The Prime Directive took precedence over all other considerations in every situation and carried the highest moral obligation. Even the appearance of interference was not tolerated by Star Fleet Command.
I see in The Word of God a “prime directive”: Love, proven by obedience.
God created man to love Him and to fellowship with Him (to be in unity, to be in communion, and to have intimacy with). However, man made a self-centered choice and the fellowship with God was broken. Personally interfering in what had instantly become an alien culture, the Messiah, the Word of God that became flesh and walked among us, manifested the love, grace, and truth of God to man and made reconciliation between God and man possible by grace through faith.
Jesus Christ commanded us to love God and each other as He loved us (, ). The proof of love is obedience (, , , , ). His will, as revealed in the Word of God, is to be our will and His ways, which are so much higher than the ways of the world (), are to be our ways. The Word of God is to dictate our words, our thoughts, and our choices and guide us in righteousness in every situation ().
Our obedience of the Lord God Almighty and His Word is to be whole-hearted (; ), which means it is to be complete and immediate, with no back-talk or debate. One of His “higher ways” to be obeyed is to not just avoid evil, but to avoid even the appearance of evil ().
What does it mean to “avoid the appearance of evil?”
Even for those who do not drink, it means not going to a party where you know alcoholic beverages will be served because alcohol loosens lips () and lowers inhibitions (, ). It means not going into a liquor store or a bar to buy a Coca-Cola.
Avoiding the appearance of evil means never eating lunch or dinner at Hooters, even if a good friend invites you and is picking up the tab (). What do you, as a non-subscriber of the magazine, do if an article about your favorite sports team or personality is published in the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated? Punt.
To avoid the appearance of evil, do not seek the counsel of someone of the opposite gender, unless that person is your spouse. Wives are to seek advice from their husbands or from a godly woman; a married woman is not to seek the advice of a man who is not her husband. Husbands are to seek advice from their wife or from a godly man; a married man is not to seek the advice of a woman who is not his wife. Single men get advice from men and single women get advice from women ().
A man and a woman are not to live together unless they are married. Even if such an arrangement is financial (ah, who is kidding who?), it has a distinct appearance of evil ().
What if I am coming home late from an extra-innings Diamondback game when, while stopped at a stop light on Van Buren, a woman asks me to give her a lift as far as the freeway? Whether she looks like a prostitute or not, I must decline. Why?
For all the above situations and countless others involving ourselves, our spouses, and our children, why must we care so much about appearances? After all, our performance in avoiding the appearance of evil does not save us. Jesus Christ saves us and He is the end of the Law for righteousness for those who believe (). So why must we be so careful to avoid the appearance of evil?
1. Because someone might see us and, if they are weaker in the faith than are we, we might cause them to stumble in their walk with Jesus and fall into sin (). This is known as the Law of Love, a “higher way” of God.
2. Because our spirit is willing but our flesh is weak. Therefore, we need to watch and pray that we are not tempted and fall (). If we are going to pray that the Lord lead us not into temptation, then we must follow where He does lead (). If we do not stay away from the appearance of evil, we may soon be entertaining it and then falling into it.
3. Because the holy God has called us to be holy in our walk with Him (, , , ). We cannot allow false assumptions to ruin our testimony and our witness.
We all need to be thinking out there, my dear brothers and sisters! Our very subtle and relentless enemy desires to destroy our witness with his slanderous ways. Remember the Prime Directive: Love, proven by obedience.
Pastor Doug
|