1 Timothy 6:11, 2 Timothy 2:22, Genesis 39:6-12, Heb 12 1:3

Jeff Cutts

For some reason I've been thinking about running.

After a recent appeal for some sports men and women to help in our youth work I was approached by a man who told me he was into running. He said that when he'd joined the army they taught him how to run so he could run for miles and miles... .maybe the parallels here got me thinking.

The Bible talks quite a bit about running, we are encouraged to run! Our life is described as a race and we as runners, so sometimes our running is a metaphor for the way we are living our lives, sometimes there is an encouragement to physically leg it!

In God's army we need to be trained to run properly. Some things we need to run to or endure as in a cross-country race, other things we're encouraged to sprint away from. Here are a few thoughts.

Rule number one: don't run away from God! - you can't escape Him, can't out run Him, and can't go anywhere where He isn't! Unless you want a few nights in the belly of a fish like Jonah this is a bad idea.

Thought here: what is the last thing God told you to do? If you haven't done it yet then don't expect God to say something else. What have you run from? If you've run away from a challenge or a problem don't be surprised when you round a corner in life and find you are faced with it again.

I encourage you to run towards God, pursue Him, make knowing Him your life's goal. We all face challenges and God promises that whatever we face He is with us, He will never leave us or forsake us. God's promise is that His grace is sufficient for us, and that we will never be tempted more than we can bear. Let's deal with our issues and not run from them, doing this with God's involvement in our lives.

Secondly: Things to run from. 1 Timothy 6:11 says 'But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.'

Feeling happy because your investments are good, you have a few quid in the bank, a good job? Great - but don't hang your hope on these things and rely on them. Run from the world's values, run from reliance on anything other than God. Instead pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.

The word of God says 'seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you'. So make the pursuit of God and His Kingdom your goal.

More things to run from: Impurity, temptations, and life destroying relationships. 2 Timothy 2:22 tells us 'Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts'

There is a lesson in this from the life of Joseph (yep the technicolour dream-coat guy) we can read in Genesis 39...'Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. With Joseph there, he didn't worry about a thing-except what kind of food to eat! Joseph was a very handsome and well-built young man, and Potiphar's wife soon began to look at him lustfully. "Come and sleep with me," she demanded. But Joseph refused. "Look," he told her, "my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God."

She kept putting pressure on Joseph day after day, but he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out of her way as much as possible. One day, however, no one else was around when he went in to do his work. She came and grabbed him by his cloak, demanding, "Come on, sleep with me!" Joseph tore himself away, but he left his cloak in her hand as he ran from the house.'

Sometimes it's good to physically run and get yourself out of a situation! Paul writes to Timothy 'Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts'. Sometimes you need to physically remove yourself from situations. Also choose the people you run with. As an athlete you can learn bad habits if you train with bad runners!

Things seemed to go bad for Joseph after he ran from temptation, but God honoured him, kept him through the hardships and difficulties he faced, and eventually brought him to fulfil his destiny - he reached the finish!

Finally - the way to run...Heb 12 1:3 'Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith...then you won't become weary and give up.'

Running from things that will destroy us is one thing...Stripping off the weight is another. This is more long term, it takes endurance. We've run full circle now. This is dealing with those issues I mentioned at the beginning instead of running from them. Do this and we can run more freely.

Most important of all - look where you are going! - Eyes fixed on Jesus. Don't run with your eyes closed or think you can run life's race without looking at the goal, or distracted by the world. Look to Jesus. Make Him your coach, take His teaching and apply it to your training and running. He is the Champion, if we are going to learn how to run well we will do it by studying Jesus and training to be like Him.