Imagine Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians signing off saying, “And be sure to stay away from things that can be misperceived! Only do things that are approved by literally everyone, okay? I love you! Buh-bye!”
Why does this sound so silly to me now, and yet I have 100% bought into this misconception up until this very moment as I write this blog? I have mitigated my behavior based on, not my own conscience of action, but based on who could or couldn’t see me. In other words, I’ve done things that I don’t mind the LORD seeing, but I wouldn’t want certain others to see. Some would call that evil in and of itself. And they’d probably cite [1Th 5:22 KJV] 22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.