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.

     I went over to my cousin’s house to play one of the newer more popular gaming systems. One of the games we would play was dodgeball. In the game, if you catch a ball, you get to bring a teammate back into the game. Obviously catching the ball is top priority if you find that you only have one guy left. However, there are times when this startegy is not always the best. A good opponent, if they have more than one person to your last guy, will time their throws to come at the exact same time, so that you can not catch it. Instead you will be out. In such a scenario, it is better to dodge than to put yourself in a situation that will cause you to go out.

     As Christians we need to have that same mindset in our spiritual walk. There are situations that can be too difficutl for us to handle. Sometimes it is tempting for us to push through anyway. We hope that we can handle such a situation, thinking that it might give us some advantage to do so. Other times we might not be exactly sure, but, being overconfident, we push ourselves to the outer most of our boundaries. Yet this can often times be a mistake.

Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

      If there is ever a situation that we are not sure if we are strong enough to handle, we must be smart about it. We must flee, saving ourselves to fight another day. There is no shame in knowing our limits or playing it on the safe side. We always need to put ourselves in a position to succeed. The Lord creates a way for us to escape any temptation (1 Cor. 10:13). When we find that way of escape we must not walk out, but flee as quickly as possible.

Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.