Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
-II Timothy 2:22
The Word of God shows us that we are called to always be growing in the Lord. The follower of Christ is not to remain where we are in terms of our faith, but rather we are called to be growing. The Bible says in II Tim. 2 that one of the first steps toward spiritual growth is to flee from the evil desires of our youth. The idea is that when we were younger we lacked the restraint, self-control, and discipline we are now capable of possessing. When we find a young person who is self-controlled and disciplined, that is indeed a person of rare quality. The temptations we were apt to surrender to when we were younger we leave behind for a more mature outlook on life.
Now, having left behind the spiritually immature ways of our youth, what direction are we to go? The Bible says to pursue righteousness. Seek the Lord in such a way that all aspects of our lives are characterized by godly and righteous living. Paul the Apostle said in I Corinthians 13:11 that when he was a child he spoke, thought, and reasoned like a child. But what happened when he became a man? He put childish ways behind him. People often have trouble putting away from them the childish ways of their youth. The time for behaving as we did when we were children is now behind us. When I was a little boy I had a collection of GI Joes. Remember those? If I had that collection in good condition today I would think those might be worth something to a collector. As a small boy I spent countless hours playing with those things. But I would look odd playing with GI Joes today, wouldn’t I? That’s not something a 48 year old man does.
As we follow and pursue righteousness we leave behind the immature ways of our youth. From there we seek to grow in faith, love, and peace. Notice that none of those attributes are immediate in our lives. They must be developed over time. And here’s something else to consider: To grow in these qualities requires effort and discipline. We come to faith in Christ, and then we begin a life-long journey of growing in Him. That’s a journey that doesn’t end as long as we live. We are called to keep on growing, thriving, and learning in the Word of God.
