Morning Meditation: When to Flee
Today’s Morning Meditation comes from 2 Timothy 2:22: “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.”
Too often we rank sins as bad, but not bad as xyz. We fool ourselves into believing that our sins aren’t as bad as someone else’s sins, so we must be ok with God. We’re good people, we just [fill in sin] every now and then. But Romans 6:23 tells us that “the wages of sin [ALL SIN] is death.” There are no levels with God and He considers them all the same. Therefore, when Timothy says to “flee the evil desires of youth,” He is telling us to flee sin — all sin — especially whatever trap we continuously get caught up in. The Enemy knows what our weaknesses are and he will exploit them! We don’t have to let ourselves be tempted, or test ourselves to see if we can hold off in these situations: Timothy said RUNNNNN CHICK, RUUUUUNNNN!! He says it for a reason. Get as far away from temptation as possible.
Second, Timothy describes evil desires as “youthful.” That does not mean that whatever you were struggling with as a kid you are still struggling with it now. “Youthful” relates to your maturity in Christ. Some sins that we struggle with as baby Christians, we will no longer struggle with as we mature in Christ (Read more about Mature Christians here). That does not mean that we will not face ANY temptation as we grow-up in Christ — even Christ was tempted by Satan. But some of these sins that so easily entangle us will no longer have any power over us. Satan will have to work to get us to fall into temptation.
Third, Timothy tells us what to do after we flee unrighteousness: “pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” In order to pursue righteousness, we must know what it is! We must read our Bibles (for a crash course, read 1 Peter and the Book of Ephesians). We must stay in communication with God through prayer, and we must surround ourselves with “those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” Your inner-circle can mean so much when it comes to fighting off temptation. They can either assist you or hinder you in your pursuit to please God with your life. With prayer, daily Bible reading, a circle of friends who are committed to pleasing God, and biblical instruction through a church, we are fully equipped to do the Heisman on these youthful temptations, as we “press toward the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us!”
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