"Now flee from youthful lusts
and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace,
with those who call on the Lord
from a pure heart."
2 Timothy 2:22 NASB1995
The corrupt heart flees purity and follows corruption.
The pure heart flees corruption and follows purity.
The corrupt heart flees wisdom and follows folly.
The pure heart flees folly and follows Christ.
Lust - Ἐπιθυμία / epithumia (Gr) / earnest desire (Mounce) / desire, passionate longing, lust (NASEC) - I add these references just to show that “lust” in this passage is generic, and while it includes sexual immorality, it is not limited to it. It is more the broad stroke like we read in I John 2:16 (lust of eyes, flesh, and pride) of the passions of men that lead us astray, and those passions are often strongest in our youth (Ecclesiastes 12:1-8). In our youth, we have delusions of grandeur in war, fame, fortune, and frolic. If we don’t lose our life to those misguided ventures in our youth, in our old age we typically wise up to their vanity. But any person of any age can at any time fall prey to any of them, and we too often do. This is why at every age… we must be wise to flee from them.
Pursue - Διώκω / diōkō / follow - but it is the idea to follow earnestly. Many translations rightly translate it to the word “pursue” as in the NASB95. If you pursue Christ, follow earnestly, disciple earnestly, then righteousness, faith, love, and peace will be a natural outgrowth of that pursuit. All those who pursue Christ from a pure heart will pursue His righteousness, faith, love, and peace. As Christians, to pursue those virtues is to continue to pursue Christ Jesus our Lord.
It is the “earnestness” that is too often lacking. Ironically, not the desire of earnestness but the practice of it. For many have the desire to desire the Lord more fully and yet their flame whimpers each day. Why? Oftentimes because they are not passionately prioritizing, and purposing, and pursuing the right values. They are reacting to life each day rather than waking up each day with a plan and a purpose to follow Christ Jesus and His pure clean way.
That is part of the purpose of #WHM. To give disciples one more tool to daily pursue (follow earnestly) their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I hope as you commit to it each day, it will help you remain a committed disciple of the Lord that is fleeing folly and earnestly following the righteousness, faith, love, and peace of Jesus. I know not everyone will. But this isn’t for everyone, it’s just for the one who will take it to heart each day and use it as purposed. May that one be you. To God be the glory!
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