SEARCHLIGHT
How aware are you of the presence of evil, temptations and even the appearance of evil in your life?
SCRIPTURE
“FLEE FROM BABYLON! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! DO NOT BE DESTROYED BECAUSE OF HER SINS. IT IS TIME FOR THE LORD’S VENGEANCE; HE WILL REPAY HER WHAT SHE DESERVES...COME OUT OF HER, MY PEOPLE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! RUN FROM THE FIERCE ANGER OF THE LORD.” JEREMIAH 51:6, 45
SPOTLIGHT
Do you know when to run for your life? The story is told about a football game that was played at Georgia Tech many years ago. The visiting team was clinging to a very slight lead of 14 to 13, with only a couple of minutes left to play. The coach of the team that was leading sent in a new quarterback with instructions to run out the clock by simply using running plays. Unfortunately, the new quarterback had dreams of glory. When he spotted one of his backs who was apparently in the clear, he threw a forward pass in his direction. Georgia Tech’s speediest back, “flashed into the picture, intercepted the pass and was off for pay-dirt.” Shockingly to everyone in the stadium, the substitute quarterback who had thrown the pass, outran and tackled his opponent on the 5-yard line. Seconds later, the final whistle blew, and Georgia Tech lost after having made an unbelievable pass interception, which would have led to their victory. Later, the Georgia Tech coach complained to the winning coach, “I’ll never understand how that sub quarterback of yours ever overtook the fastest boy on our squad.” Candidly and quickly, the winning coach explained, “It was simple. Your boy was running for a touchdown. Mine was running for his life.”
Are you running for your life? In the above Scripture text, God called His people to flee Babylon before its final destruction. Babylon was well known for its idolatry, cruelty and immorality. Holy God wanted His people to flee the sinfulness and corruption. God was going to bring judgment on this empire and wanted the Jewish captives to run for their lives to escape the destruction.
Today, God calls believers to run for their lives. Times have not changed even with the great advancements of medicine and technology. The world system is marked by the same idolatry, cruelty and immorality. The candid question to be asked is, “Can unbelievers tell who the believers are in this world?” Another question to be asked is, “Are believers running for their lives?”
The Apostle Paul was convinced that believers should be continually running for their lives. Listen to his admonition, “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.] Note the 3 action steps to be taken:
#1. Flee evil desires. #2. Pursue being right with God, building up your faith in God, loving God and living in harmony with people.
#3. Stay closely connected to other pure-hearted believers of like convictions. When Paul wrote this to Timothy, he spent a great deal of time describing how a believer, who truly was aware of what Jesus Christ had done for him on Calvary, would long to be faithful, unashamed, and turn away from anything that was unholy. He warned that the devil was continually trying to trap believers. Just read it for yourself in 2 Timothy 2:14-26.
RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! Joseph did. Out of faithfulness to God and respect for Potiphar, Joseph ran for his life when Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him. [Genesis 39:6b-20.] His life pursuit was for righteousness, faith, love and peace. David chose the opposite way and had to learn the hard way. Instead of running for his life, he committed adultery with Bathsheba and paid a high price. Read David’s repentant prayer in Psalm 51.
A pastor was approached by a physician, a member of his congregation, who was concerned about his health. He gave his pastor some Broadway theater tickets and said “Take these. You need the recreation of going to this play.” Pausing a moment, the pastor looked at them and seeing that they were tickets to a play that he could not conscientiously attend, he kindly said, “Thank you, but I can’t take them. I can’t go.” The physician asked, “Why not?” Kindly his pastor said, “Doctor, it’s this way. You’re a physician; a surgeon in fact. When you operate, you scrub your hands meticulously until you are especially clean. You would not dare operate with dirty hands. I am a servant of Jesus Christ. I deal with precious human souls. I would not dare to do my service with a dirty life.” That pastor knew how to run for his life!
SOMETHING TO DO
#1. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you any evil desires you may have, but may not really be
aware of, because you do not describe them as such.
#2. How can you better pursue living a holy life?
#3. What can you do to build up your faith in God?
#4. How can you express your love to God in a fresh way?
#5. What can you do to be a peacemaker today?
SOUL TIME PRAYER
Heavenly Father, I want to be more like You. I would ask that Your Holy Spirit would alert me to even any appearance of evil that crosses my path. I truly want to be more like You, Jesus. Be at the center of my life in every way! I am choosing to run for my life from evil, and I am choosing to run to You as a deer would pant for water.
[Psalm 42:1.] AMEN!