Some people run to lose weight and others run to exercise their cardiovascular system. Either way, running takes work and discipline if it is to be effective.
Paul writes to Timothy about running:
Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts. 2 Timothy 2:22 (NLT)
Eugene Peterson put it like this in The Message:
Run away from infantile indulgence. Run after mature righteousness—faith, love, peace—joining those who are in honest and serious prayer before God
Run away from things that are bad for you and run toward things that are good for you. Running in this sense also takes work and discipline if it is to be effective.
I recall hearing some apply this verse to the young, but what it says is, run away from “youthful” lusts. Even older people can have “youthful lusts,” longing for something that might make them feel young, at least for a moment in time. I think that is why the Message answers that with “Run after mature righteousness,” etc. Everybody has to grow up sometime! Follow God’s plan…
SEEK FIRST THE
