For most of my life, most of my friends were boys and then men. I seemed to get along better with men than women. Things have changed since those days because I am a married woman. During my courtship with my then beau, we decided to limit friendships and outreach to members of the opposite sex unless both of us could participate.

We both felt that the enemy could use our god-given desire to serve and help to ensnare us into a potentially dangerous situation. Its the Christians kind heart that often blinds them to the potential pitfalls a seemingly innocent situation may present.

I think of specific examples of situations at work where men have come to me because they knew I might be willing to be a sounding board to them. Its a Christian's natural reaction to reach out and want to console another hurting person. However, this is a dangerous act for a Christian to do towards someone of the opposite sex and even more so when things might not be going well in their own marriage.

That act of consolation and "ministry" creates a level of sharing and intimacy between two people that may start out as a simple conversation but can quickly progress towards something that God only wants shared with a spouse. Soon, the person attempting to minister may start to share some of their own struggles and now there is mutual intimacy and sharing. The hurting person becomes the one reaching out at times. Soon a mutual camaraderie develops and the two realize they have much in common. A simple conversation turns into another conversation and perhaps prayer and then their souls have become mingled.

God's solution to this very tragic scenario is quite simple. The Bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:22 warns us not to join in even the "appearance of evil". Again, it's about boundaries and "guard your heart for out of it are the issues of life" - I always warn people what these 'issues' could be - divorce, heart break, whether you live on welfare, whether you find yourself in an abusive relationship, etc.....

These are issues we will deal with if our heart is not properly 'guarded' as it should be. God's boundaries are always for our good, not because He wants to limit our 'fun' or relationships, but because He is all wise and knows the human heart far better than we know ourselves.

Remember, Satan parades amongst Christians as an angel of Light. He is the perfect chameleon. Satan is the prince of evil to those desiring to seek and find evil but he is an angel of Light to those seeking good so that he can later shock and deceive them. Like we lure mice into traps by fronting it with harmless tasty foods, Satan leads Christians into sin traps by fronting it with harmless good intentions.

In reality, this suggestion applies to any consoling act in any profession or situation or place – even Church – not just in the workplace.

2 Peter 3:17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.