2 Timothy 2:22-24

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. 23 Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. 24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.

Standing in the mirror, a growing hatred grows within your soul against yourself. Annoyed and exasperated you’re so tired of seeing the same face, the same two eyes staring back at you in the mirror. By this time, you should have dropped ten pounds by now, you should have applied for graduation by now, you should have gotten married by now. You should have, you should have, you should have! Yet you cannot muster up an ounce of motivation to get back on your feet and try again.

It is the first of March and you’re ready to throw in the towel.

I cannot describe the magnitude of this feeling completely. I know what it feels like to be at square one, but what I realized—I fail because of a few reasons. 1. I am trying to be someone I am not. 2. I am seeking to attain something God does not have planned for me. 3. And I have yet to discipline myself to receive the magnitude of the blessing I desire. So if you’re tired of being in square one or walking in circles—I encourage you to, this time do it God’s way, do it the way He told you to do it, and do not stray from it.

Our main verse is:

2 Timothy 2:22-24

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. 23 Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. 24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.

First consider your situation, what is in your way? A mountain, wall, river, or ocean whatever the obstacle always remember, whenever you move pass one, there will be another. The challenges will not stop coming, this is life, not paradise. Next, what sins have God commanded you to forsake? Now these could be sins and or good desires, but whatever it is, it should not be your focus. Not merely sin but also what is standing in your way, what is the obstacle keeping you from overcoming your mountain. Several times, we are instructed in God’s Word to forsake fleshly desires, to renew our minds using scriptures, but what does that mean? What does it look like? 2 Timothy 2:22-24 says, “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.”

The Christian definition of the word “Flee” means to “to run with rapidity,” “to hasten from danger or expected evil.” Hmmm…strange, don’t you think it is interesting Timothy tells us to run rapidly away from our evil desires, or to run from expected danger. One of the real reasons, we fall apart mid year or quit trying to achieve our goals is because we do not see our “evil desires” as evil. Unwilling to believe our habitual sins, though small in our eyes, are offensive and disobedient behavior in the eyes of the Lord God.

Whether its private or public sins, all sins are tremendously wicked weights in God’s holy eyes. These behaviors may not be evil to others or they could be, but at the end of the day, these particular actions are evil and harmful to us. Growing in Christ and abandoning “evil desires” is not because Jesus wants to remove the joys we have in life, but our evil desires possesses no benefit to our spiritual growth. Of anything, these past habits have darkened our understanding of God and His love for us by removing time we can be spending with God.

These desires Timothy says originates from the youth, when we’re young. Now what I learned this isn’t tied only to age it also means the maturity of the spirit and mind. I know a lot of adults older than 23, who act like my students or behave like bratty, privileged or negligent children. We flee our need to have things “our way.” Tossing aside the “I want it now” attitude and the temper tantrums we have when God tells us to wait or no. A step towards maturity humbles our arrogant spirits, it is accepting that we cannot live with our evil desires and still serve God who we claim is the master of our lives. The Word of God says, “24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matt 6:24) Yes, this verse pertains somewhat to money but the message Jesus is speaking is always true.

If we pledge our allegiance to God, by accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord then that means Jesus is our Lord. And His commands are our creeds.

So we flee and after permanently forsaking, abandoning these evil desires residing in us? What do we do next? “22 Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace….” So we pursue

Righteousness

Faith

Love

And peace.

But what does pursue mean? Now the Word of God was originally written in Hebrew and Greek and the word “pursue” has many definitions. The most well known definition of pursue is “to attain, chase after, or obtain.” Although there is another definition I think that will expand our knowledge and understanding of what it truly means to imitate Christ and pursue godliness. “To follow; to go or proceed after or in like direction,” NOW picture this. You are a police officer pursuing a red hot assailant, this perpetrator is a notorious criminal in your city, armed and dangerous. He must be stopped at all costs. After receiving an anonymous tip, you come to a deadly police chase, driving haphazardly, speeding through red and green lights, you know if you lose eyesight of this criminal—then he or she will be gone forever.

That is pursuing. Pursuing is not only attainment or the chase but it is “proceeding in the same direction” as the object or goal. How many of us try to attain Christ or godliness, yet travel in a different direction? Irregardless of what stands in your way as a police officer, you are charged to protect the citizens of your city at all costs. It does not matter if it rained, snowed, or if your tires blew out. You would call for backup, find a new ride, or helicopter the citizen’s coordinates. Likewise, we are charged with a new way of living to be like Christ, to finally act like Christians we’re called to be. At all costs. We head in the same direction never losing sight of Jesus, when an obstacle swerves in our direction, we don’t engage it, we push through it.

Pursuing means we walk as Christ Jesus has walked. In what way can we obtain godliness or righteousness or love, by acting like heathens? We cannot.

Righteousness is to conform ourselves in body and heart to God’s holy law. The conformation is not only the outside life our neighbors, children, friends, and family can see. Anyone can appear like a saint in public and be the devil behind closed doors. The conformation is an inward process. Righteousness does not come from our keeping of God’s law, first and foremost the Christian’s righteousness comes from Christ Jesus, who exchanged us his righteousness for our sinfulness. Therefore, we pursue righteousness by reinforcing the actions and attributes associated with it in our lives.

So it is righteous behavior that is pleasing to God, we can change all we want to, accomplish our goals, but if our behavior is not righteous and our hearts are not pure. Then we are not purifying God. We have failed the object of our pursuit, and there goes our motivation.

I pray this blog post was encouraging and you received some much needed encouragement. I pray the Holy Spirit will awaken in you the pursuit of the Lord God in heaven for only He is worth it.

1.  Are there any evil desires (up above) that apply to you? Explain why? If not, write down your evil desires and how they destroy your spirit?

2. What keeps you from seeing your evil desires as truly “evil,” from viewing your actions as sinful?

3. What changes in your life would you have to make to truly and intentionally pursue Jesus and your desires?

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