Saturday, October 31, 2009

NTC Day 41: Luke 20, 2 Timothy 1-2

"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

We are surrounded by immaturity. We are surrounded by those who still feed "the evil desires of youth". I know grown adults, old men and women, who at the heart level are still living like children. Some of them even go to church on Sunday, but live their own way the rest of the week.

Yet, lest I sound judgmental, I still at times give in to the evil desires of youth as well. Instead of fleeing, I chase it down. And if we set out to simply fight against these evil desires, we will most certainly lose every time. This is why Paul doesn't just say, "Fight the evil desires of youth". Instead he replaces it, and says in essence, "Instead of pursuing the evil desires of youth, pursue these things".

But just as we talked about yesterday, we are not in this alone. Paul points out that we are on this journey "along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart".

So are you trying to flee evil desires and pursue holiness on your own? Even if you are involved on Sunday morning and in a community group, it is the way of the American individualistic Christian to try and flee and pursue all alone. I confess that for too many years, I viewed church as my weekly "refueling and equipping" session where I got my mission objectives for the week and then went out to fight all my battles alone.

Don't waste the wonderful community we share at Redeemer. Invite others to take an active interest in your holiness. Foster and seek relationships that will demonstrate for you and spur you toward righteousness, faith, love and peace.

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