When You Run

One of my favorite bands, The Avett Brothers, has a song called "The Weight of Lies." The chorus goes, "...when you run make sure you run to something and not only from..." This got me thinking about running. At first I thought about the several unfortunate years I spent on the middle school cross country team. Then I thought about I Corinthians 9:24 which says,

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it."

I think a lot of Christians spend most of their time running from Hell. They don't do anything wrong because they don't want to go to Hell. They are running from something but they aren't running to anything. Running from Hell doesn't always mean running to God.

Many times we settle for what the world hands us. Sure, everyone would run from torture, but sometimes we stop early. We stop at material gain. We stop at comfort. We stop at acceptance. We let these things be our prize. But God offers a far greater prize if we run to him. God offers Heaven- an eternal home where we can be free from all pain and free to fulfill our original purpose and worship our Holy God forevermore.

So, why aren't we running to him? Running is tiring. God's perfect ways are extremely distant from this imperfect world, and no matter how far we run, it's always a long way. But Christ went the extra mile for us. He tired so that we may have rest (Mt. 11:28). Running hurts. Constantly running tears muscles and puts your body under stress, but it strengthens it too. God puts us under trials so that our faith may be made stronger (Rom. 5:3-4). Running is an individual sport.You decide which direction you want to go, how far you want to go, and when you stop. But God has provided us with both his constant presence (Heb.13:5) and a body of people to run with you, the church.

So, let's not just run from wrong. Let's not casually meander in the direction of righteousness. Let's eagerly sprint toward God and all that he has offered us so that we may live the life he designed us to live, both on this earth and forever in Heaven.