Abstain from every form of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 (ESV)
The social distancing directive of the Covid 19 outbreak got old quickly for me. I began to feel like if I heard those words again, I would scream. You know, Facetime is good, but I was ready to see my kids and grandkids in person and get some hugs. However, I must admit that the practice of social distancing prompted me to put some thought into spiritual distancing.
When we consider social distancing, the idea is not the separating ourselves from other people per se; it is distancing ourselves from the possibility of contracting a virus that could make us extremely ill and possibly kill us. Let’s be honest, we don’t want to contract any virus and we will do pretty much whatever it takes to keep from doing so. We’ll wear masks in public even at the risk of looking a little stupid. We will stand at least 6 feet away from other people. We’ll wear gloves, wash our hands until they shrivel and sanitize them until they are bone dry. Many of us will even work from home. The idea is to stay away from the virus. So, when it comes to spiritual distancing, I have to question myself, “At what lengths will I go to distance myself from every form of evil?”
The scriptures are ripe when it comes to commanding us to flee sin. Paul tells us to flee sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 6:18), idolatry (1 Corinthians 10:14) and youthful passions (2 Timothy 2:22) among other things. In 1 Timothy 6:6-11, he tells us to flee the love of money for it is the root of all kinds of evil. Paul also exhorts us to consider ourselves dead to sin. And he exhorts us not to let sin reign in our bodies nor present our bodies to sin as instruments of unrighteousness (Romans 6:11-13).
Jesus had, what is considered to be, an extreme view of distancing ourselves from sin. He said, If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. (Matthew 5:29-30)
I don’t believe Jesus was telling us to literally tear out our right eye or cut off our right hand. If I tear out my right eye I can still sin with my left eye. If I cut off my right hand I can still sin with my left. I believe Jesus was telling us to go to extreme measures to rid ourselves of the things in our lives that cause us to sin.
If we will heed the ordinances set forth by our governing officials to curb the spread of a potentially deadly virus, should we not much more heed the commands of God to kill the spread of sin in our lives? The great Puritan preacher John Owen once said, “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.” Social distancing (from viruses) may be a good thing, but spiritual distancing (from sin) is far better. Sin is the far worst illness. It leads to death (Romans 6:23).
Are you doing whatever it takes to distance yourself from sin?
Scriptures for meditation:
Matthew 18:8-9
Hebrews 12:1