Run, Forrest, Run!


If you saw the movie Forrest Gump then you'll remember the scene where young Forrest is being taunted and chased by bullies and he takes off running, freeing himself from the literal shackles of medical equipment that was attached to his legs.

When we were in Yellowstone National Park in 2011 we were photographing this grizzly when a loud noise spooked it from a time of quiet grazing and digging... and it ran. I had never seen a grizzly run so fast. You can see the dirt and mud flying up behind this bear. It's not a great shot because I was not prepared to shoot at that speed, but you get the point -- this bear was hauling!

Like Forrest Gump and this grizzly, there ought to be things in our life from which we hit the gas and fling mud behind us as we high-tail it out of sight. In the New Testament we read:

Flee from sexual immorality. (1 Corinthians 6:18)

Flee from idolatry. (1 Corinthian 10:14)

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil... flee from all this. (1 Timothy 6:10-11)

Flee the evil desires of youth. (2 Timothy 2:22)

Sexual immorality, love of money, evil desires, idolatry (anything in our lives more important than God)... Don't sit and observe it. Don't walk away casually. RUN! A Christian should not allow himself or herself to be trapped in these snares. They are webs of deception and defeat from Satan.

How can you overcome such temptations? James is clear when he says...

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)

Submit, yield, surrender, give yourself 100% to God, run to Him... and the devil will run from you.

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