Monday, January 16, 2022

Listen to the Word

Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.  (2 Timothy 2:22)

Are you a runner? Perhaps you are an accomplished marathoner. Then again, maybe you wouldn’t run unless you were being chased by a leopard, or unless the last piece of pie was at stake. The Bible actually talks a lot about running. This week’s verse tells us what to run from, what to run after, and who to run with.

We are commanded to run from “the evil desires of youth.” If you are young, you may feel like the Bible is picking on you; if you are older, you may imagine that you are in the clear. But keep in mind that the book of 2 Timothy was originally written to a young man. It is not that the evil desires of youth are any worse than the evil desires of old age. Different temptations come to the front of the line in different seasons of life. So perhaps we should agree to flee from all evil desires – the evil desires of youth, the evil desires of mid-life crisis, and the evil desires that come with the senior discount at Denny’s. It should be a general policy: with any variety of evil desires, our job is to flee!

Live the Word

What specific “evil desire” is most alluring to you? Ask God to help you turn away from it and run from it.