1254) I was afraid of dogs when I was little and when I got old enough to read, I took the signs that said, “Beware of dog” seriously. I remember walking down the sidewalk in my neighborhood and there would be some fenced in yards and, sure enough, a huge, ferocious dog would run at full force toward me and I was sure it would tear me apart if it could get over the fence. I learned quickly which yards to avoid.

Keeping the image of a ferocious dog in mind while reading 1 Thessalonians 5:22 will give us a good idea of what Paul was trying to communicate. He wrote, “reject every kind of evil.” This word, reject, can be accurately referred to as, “keep your distance”. The verse tells us to keep ourselves distant from evil; go out of our way to avoid it. Why? Simply because whatever we brush up against is going to leave some kind of mark on us.

Evil is powerful, and we should not underestimate it. How much distance does it have from your life?