Thursday, January 19, 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)

Flee temptation. Pursue virtue. In the Greek in which our Scripture was originally written, both of these commands are written in a tense that calls for continuing action. Literally, you are to keep on fleeing from evil desires. Temptation will chase you all of your life. You will never run so far that you can relax and stop worrying about sin. And literally, you are to keep on pursuing righteousness, faith, love and peace. It will be a lifelong project. There will never be a day when you can write in your journal, “at 3:37 today I mastered righteousness. I’m glad I can check that one off.”

Run from sin, and keep running from it. Run after Christlike character, and keep running after it. Don’t give up.

Live the Word

Is there a holy habit (like prayer, or Bible reading, or church attendance) that has become sporadic for you? Ask God to help you practice that holy habit on a more consistent, ongoing basis.