Matthew 10:16 instructs us to be “wise as serpents, and innocent as doves.”  Romans 16:19 instructs us to be “wise unto that which is good, and innocent concerning evil.”  Ephesians 5:12 instructs us that “it is shameful even to mention what is done (by the wicked) in secret.”

It is certainly not fashionable today to be considered        “innocent” in regard to evil.  Many people…strongly desire to be considered sophisticated and revel in the perversions paraded across television and the news media.  Even in the Church it is becoming more difficult to find Christians who will take a stand even against such clear perversions as homosexuality and transgender activities as they do not want to appear too unsophisticated or judgmental.

In the Garden of Eden, Eve desired the forbidden fruit primarily because she wanted to be “wise”; to know good and evil – exactly what the Bible warns us against in the verses above.  She shunned her blessed innocence for increased sophistication.  Her eyes were open and her knowledge of evil was increased immeasurably but she paid a heavy price of having sin, death and the accompanying sorrows enter her life.

William MacDonald in the Believer’s Bible Commentary states, in regard to Ephesians 5:12, that “The unnatural forms of sin which man has invented are so bad that even to describe them would defile the minds of those who listened.  So the Christian is taught to refrain from even talking about them.”

We need to keep our minds “innocent” of the perversions we are inundated with daily from the world being “wise unto that which is good” by keeping our minds stayed on Christ.  That will allow us to “Walk as children of light” – Ephesians 5:8 to obtain the “fruit of the light (which) results in all goodness, righteousness and truth – discerning what is pleasing to the Lord”- Ephesians 5:9-10.  Let us avoid the “fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them” as commanded by Ephesians 5:11 remembering that everything exposed by the light is made clear”- Ephesians 5:13”