My Son Will Take Care of the 5th

After reading my last post, my son Robert, sent me an email. He says, he'll buy the 5th and put it in my refigerator for me.

He questions why I would even be concerned with what others think since I have freely stood alone against public opinion in the past. It's pretty easy to stand alone when you know you are right. It's harder to do when you know that Word does not back up your action.

The problem with me standing in a line in a liquor store is that it clashes with
1 Thessalonians 5:22 which says believers should, "Abstain from all appearance of evil." A prominent, nationally known pastor standing in line at a liquor store somehow seems to give the appearance of evil to me; even though I know that the 5th would be used for medicial purposes and would probably take 30 years to consume.

Well it turns out that we didn't need the 5th anyway. Sunday morning, Dr. Claude Minor, a deacon of our church and his wife Dorothy, a registered nurse, came to Joslyn's rescue. They came to our home in a "house call" and pulled out the old needle to the arm. A fresh shot of anti-biotics runs away the germs which caused, what turned out to be bronchitis.

The issue of avoiding the appearance of evil is a dilemma of many pastors who are constantly aware that often innocent acts may be perceived by others as an evil that will diminish their witness. It should be an issue for everyone who is a Christian.

For example, when my son walks into the liquor store to buy the 5th for me; someone from the church where he serves as musician is bound to see him with the little brown bag. They won't ask why, they'll just repeat what they saw, "the church musician was in the local liquor store. He bought a fifth of whiskey, put it in a brown bag and walked out of the store."

What they will report will be the truth, but not the whole truth. Since the whole truth won't be told to explain questionable activities; many believers have learned to avoid known questionable activities. This is done for the good of those who would be devastated by our misinterpreted action.

Preachers live in fish bowls. Everyone watches every action.

What some people forget is that non-believers put all Christians in the same fish bowl.