Where to Run
Can you think of a time in your life when you felt compelled to run? You are going through an airport, and your plane is now boarding. You know that if you don’t hurry you will not be able to make this flight. Or, maybe you are out walking and in doing so you hear some growling, and then you see him. He is a huge dog that is coming toward you. He is nothing like the tame pet that lives at your home. You run and get to safety right before he gets to you. There may have been a lot of reasons that you have to move faster sometimes than others.
In the gospels, Jesus has died and been buried. It has been three days since this happened. Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb and finds the tomb where He was buried, empty. She went back and told the Peter and John (John 20:2). They were “...running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first;” John 20:4 (NASB) These two apostles, who were friends of the Lord, were running to Jesus. But, sure enough, the tomb was empty except for the burial clothes.
In the book of Acts, Philip, a disciple of Jesus, is told to go to meet an Ethiopian eunuch. In Acts 8:29-30 we read, "Then the Spirit said to Philip, 'Go up and join this chariot.' 30 Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, 'Do you understand what you are reading?'" Did you notice that Philip ran to meet the man? The Ethiopian was reading a passage in Isaiah about Jesus, and Philip asked him if he understood it. He stopped the chariot, Philip got in the chariot and rode along and from this Scripture “preached unto him Jesus.” (Acts 8:35)
I would think that it is important for us to run. We should first run from sin. Instead of practicing sin, we need to avoid it. Titus 2:11-12 states, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age.”
At the same time we run from sin, we must run to Jesus as Peter and John did. Titus 2:13-14 tells us, “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, 14 who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”
Jesus is coming back one day to take the church home with Him. We need to say “No!” to sin and ”Yes!” to Jesus. I pray that we all are trying to run to and with Jesus each day of our lives.