Book Excerpt: Two Roads
Below you will find an excerpt from the book I am currently writing, called Two Roads. These two paragraphs refer to previous thoughts on 2 Timothy 2:22: "But flee youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord with a pure heart." I am to have the final draft to the publishers by March 30, and would welcome the comments of my friends on what appears here:
"Our strategy to stand firm in righteousness - to choose the road of obedience, to be "believing believers" with firm faith - calls us to flee from everything that would enflame our lustful desires. We must say "no" to the desires of the flesh. But, as necessary as it is to run from temptation, it is even more important to pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace. We must consistently say "yes" to the desires of the Spirit. And yet, there is one more component. We need to do both of these in community with other Christ-followers. Paul directs Timothy to flee, and pursue, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
As a pastor, Timothy probably felt very alone in his battles. Maybe he felt like no one understood the pressures and the challenges he faced in Ephesus. If so, he wasn't any different from you and me. It always surprises me that we all think we're in this alone. Satan does a good job of making us think that the sins we've made room for in our lives, and the temptations that continue to haunt and hunt us, are unique to us. We all think that everyone else is probably doing better than we are, and that they would stop thinking of us so well if they really knew what we were doing and what we were hiding. And to top it off, we seldom if ever look at each other as allies in the fight against sin. Embarrassment keeps us quiet, and our silence keeps us alone. And Satan just keeps on smiling."