2 Timothy 2:22 “Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”
HOT PURSUITS
Have you ever heard the statement, “Before you are saved you chase sin, but after you are saved, sin chases you”? This verse basically says the same thing. Paul is telling Timothy to run from sin, all those youthful lusts. He doesn’t name them, but I am sure he and Timothy had the conversation before during those years Timothy traveled with him and was mentored by him.
But then Paul tells him what to chase. Righteousness, faith, love and peace are worthy goals to go after. And the more we chase those things, the less we want to chase the wrong things. These four pursuits will cause us to be more and more like Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our race.
TEACHING MOMENT
So, how do we as parents point our children into the correct lane in this race? Well, we have to get in the lane next to them. We have to show them how to pursue these things. We have to show them how to keep our eyes on the prize (the upward call of Christ). We have to help pace them because it is a long race. Then after they have learned from us we can revert to a place of cheering them on from the stands. They have to learn to run the race themselves. And when they fall, and they will, we need to be there to pick them up and point out, if necessary, how they fell.
Too many parents today keep picking up their fallen kids without pointing out the cause of the fall. These parents don’t want to make little Elrod feel any worse, so they just pick him up, bandage his knee and help him on the track again. There is always a cause for the fall. Some of those falls are accidental, but others….well, they choose those. Those are the ones we must point out and hold them accountable for.
A Moment In Time 