Week 1: Pursuing Together - Flee and Pursue
The Christian life is not passive. As believers in Christ, we have been called to run the Christian race. (Heb. 12:1) An endeavor that is day by day and even moment by moment. The apostle Paul understood this and approached his walk with Christ as an athlete would approach a competition. He didn’t look back, only ahead, and endeavored to gain Christ. (Phil. 3:13-14) When we picture running a race, it’s easy to imagine everyone competing on their own. But while our walk with Christ is deeply personal, there’s tremendous, even essential, strength in running the race together. In a previous post, we discussed the importance of gathering together as a regular part of our Christian walk. In this new series, we’re going to take a closer look at what the Bible reveals about the importance of our corporate Christian walk, our pursuing together.
Paul charged his younger co-worker, Timothy, in 2 Timothy 2:22, to “flee youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” This is not a frivolous suggestion but a serious imperative, and Paul’s threefold instruction to Timothy is just as helpful to us today. Let’s identify the three crucial aspects of this verse and consider how we can apply them in our daily Christian walk.
The crucial aspects in 2 Timothy 2:22 can be simplified to: “flee,” “pursue,” and “with those.” What do we need to flee? As believers in Christ, we have all received Christ into our spirit and heart. But our flesh, our fallen and corrupted, sinful body, is still full of lusts. Ephesians 2:3 indicates that lusts are acted out by our flesh and through our thoughts. We can flee youthful lust by making “no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts” and ”by taking captive every thought unto the obedience of Christ.” (Rom. 13:14; 2 Cor. 10:5) In the Christian life, we need to flee from situations and environments that enable, or make provision, for our flesh to fulfill its lusts. We also need to be aware of our thoughts. Martin Luther wisely asserted, “You can’t stop the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from making a nest in your hair.” Simply being aware of our thoughts is an essential part of fleeing. Like the birds overhead, most of our sporadic thoughts are harmless, but others can be quite troublesome if we give them room in our minds and allow them to “make a nest.” When we realize that our thoughts have taken a wrong turn, we can redirect our mind and heart back to Christ by praying simple, genuine prayers. Praying, “Lord Jesus, I don’t want to think about this,” may seem simple, but try it and you’ll find it to be surprisingly effective. Prayer strengthens our faith, and by faith we quench the temptations, proposals, doubts, and lies that Satan uses to attack our minds. (Eph. 6:16) We may have thought that for our Christian walk, pursuing would come before fleeing, but this isn’t the order Paul uses. Often, our walk with Christ is derailed, not for lack of pursuit, but because we don’t flee. But fleeing by itself doesn’t constitute a healthy Christian life.
We need to pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace. To pursue is to seek something definitely and diligently. But what are these three virtues, and how can we pursue them? Righteousness relates to ourselves, faith is directed toward God, and love is expressed toward others. When we have these three virtues towards these three parties, the result is peace. This may seem complicated, so it’s incredibly helpful to realize that the Bible shows us that all three of these virtues are actually Christ Himself. 1 Corinthians 1:30 says that Christ Jesus “became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” In Romans 3:22, the phrase “faith of Jesus Christ” indicates that Jesus Christ is faith since, in Greek, “faith” and “Jesus Christ” are in apposition. And we all are familiar with 1 John 4:8, which tells us explicitly that “God is love.” This is why it should come as no surprise that the author of Hebrews told us to “run with endurance the race which is set before us” by “Looking away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.” (Heb. 12:1-2) We can pursue Christ by looking away unto Jesus. Our practical walk with Christ is a kind of moment-by-moment returning, reorienting, and recalibrating of our thoughts and our hearts back to Christ. As we walk with Him by faith, we are spontaneously righteous toward ourselves, have faith toward God, and love others. When we do, the issue is a life full of peace.
Finally, and most importantly, we need to see that Paul’s charge, both to flee and to pursue, is carried out “with those.” We should not be ignorant of Satan’s schemes. (2 Cor. 2:11) And one of the enemy’s most frequently used strategies is simply to isolate us. Is it really a surprise that most of our failures and temporary departures from Christ come when we’re by ourselves? When no one is around, it’s easy to make provision for the flesh and even easier to succumb to an endless downward stream of consciousness. As believers in Christ, we’re never truly alone because Christ is always with us. He Himself promised to be “with [us] all the days.” (Matt. 28:20) However, our experience proves that our walk with Christ is the most challenging when we’re isolated. Whether by choice or by circumstance, it’s difficult to flee and pursue when we’re alone. But when we’re with others, not only are we strengthened to flee, but pursuing Christ is so much easier and sweeter. Many Christians can testify that the battle to flee is often won simply by being together with other believers. When we surround ourselves with other believers in Christ, we are rarely so tempted as when we’re alone. On the negative side, we’re able to flee almost spontaneously. On the positive side, we’re strengthened to pursue. Like a pile of hot coals, when we’re together, we warm each other and help one another “fan into flame” our spirit to pursue “righteousness, faith, love, and peace.” (2 Tim. 1:6; 2:22) It’s likely that you’ve experienced this before. Maybe you felt your love toward God begin to cool and even grow cold. But as soon as you join together with other believers in Christ to pray, have fellowship, read the Bible, sing to the Lord, and worship Him, you begin to sense your heart toward God being rekindled. As our heart toward the Lord warms up, we’re encouraged to continue our walk with Christ and run the Christian race.
We hope that this post has helped you to realize the importance of fleeing and pursuing “with those.” God has given us truly great provisions for our Christian walk. Not only do we have His Word and His Son, but also all His children, our fellow believers in Christ, to help us run the race. You’re not alone, so don’t be; pursue together!
