[Steve Myers] An NFL player was recently arrested and charged with murder, maybe even connected to a couple of other murders in that area about a year ago or so. And it's been a really high profile case. And as you think about what this individual got into, it seems that many times throughout his life he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Not something that just happened in a vacuum, but there were things that led up to this. And as I heard about this case, and of course it's going to be played out through the justice system, we don't exactly know all the details. But no doubt it brings concern, and it brings discredit to the organization that he was a part of. It brings dishonor just the fact that these charges are made and it looks so dim as you look at the whole situation.

Now what I think we all need to do in these types of things is consider ourselves when it comes to our behavior, what we do in our lives. Does it bring honor to our organization? Does it bring credit to our families? You know when we say we're Christians, well, do we represent Jesus Christ in a way that brings Him honor?

What does our example say about who we are? And what about our approach to circumstances in our life? And maybe more specifically, what about our approach to sin?

You know God's called us and He wants sin eradicated out of our life. We're to avert sin. We're to avoid it. We're to prevent sin in our lives. And so God gives us some amazing instruction in order to do that. It's in one little short passage that says just monumental things about sin itself. It's found over in 1 Thessalonians. And in 1 Thessalonians it's kind of interesting the way that it's mentioned here in just a short little concise sentence. Here's what it says. The New King James says, "Abstain from every form of evil." In the New Living it says, "Stay away from every kind of evil." And it's no wonder the King James puts it this way, "Abstain from all appearance of evil" (1 Thessalonians 5:22).

So it begins to show us if we want to avoid sin, we've got to get out of that situation. We've got to withdraw. If we find ourselves in a situation that could lead to sin, the Apostle Paul says get out of it. You cannot stay there. And if you find yourself there, run. Abstain. Withdraw. Don't go there because think about it, how can we come out of sin if we've got a lackadaisical approach to situations and temptations that could pull us into that kind of behavior? God says don't even go there. So He says even the appearance of sin, if it even looks like sin, if it could lead to sin, if it even seems to border on sin, God says abstain. Get away. Withdraw. Don't go that direction.

So that's powerful advice that's simple, straightforward. So if we ever find ourselves in that situation, remember, let's withdraw. Let's abstain, and let's get out of any possible temptation that could lead us into sin.

That's BT Daily. We'll see you next time.