But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. 

      1 Timothy 6:11

Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the name of the Lord from a pure heart.

            2 Timothy 2:22

“Flee” is an important word. It’s an urgent word. It means that there is something taking place that has the ability to harm us in some fashion. Perhaps it’s a fire, an armed individual, or flood waters approaching. Regardless of the situation, “flee” means we need to get as far away from the situation as possible. 

So, when the Bible tells us to “flee,” we need to take that instruction to heart and heed its warning. We see Paul mention “fleeing” in two different places in his letters to Timothy. The first one comes from 1 Timothy. But in order to fully appreciate this instruction, we need to put the passage in context. This is what precedes his warning: 

But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

          1 Timothy 6:9-10

First, the Bible is warning us to flee “the love of money.” Why? It is because the love of money opens up our lives and makes us vulnerable to a whole host of evil. Just take a look around. Money doesn’t solve the problem with our sin nature and depravity rather money often fuels it, feeding our flesh, and driving us into worlds in which we were never designed to take part. But money isn’t the problem…the love of money is. When we begin to love money and financial success more than we love our walk with Christ, we slip into a world of idolatry, bringing with it pursuits and activities that are anything but God-honoring. The root of all sorts of evil is the “love of money” therefore, we are to flee. 

Paul mentions the reality that many who begin strong in their walk with Christ often fall away because they fall in love with another. They replace their devotion to God with a devotion to, and pursuit of, more and more money. Jesus reminds us that serving God and serving money cannot be done at the same time. We will choose to pursue one or the other. We will decide to be devoted to one or the other but never both (Matthew 6:24). And by wandering away from God and embracing worldly philosophies, these people, those who idolize material wealth, have “pierced themselves with many griefs.” Notice that these “griefs” are entirely self-inflicted due to either an ignorance of the Word of God or simple apathy toward what it says. Either way, money is no substitute for walking in the power of the Spirit of God and having unhindered fellowship with Him. 

Secondly, the Bible tells us that while the world “wants to get rich,” that we, as the people of God, should flee such a desire. A desire to get rich is a temptation and a snare. A snare is a trap. Money will never, ultimately, deliver on its promise of fulfillment. That’s why people that have money tend to want and desire more. The level of success that was once thought of as “enough” is now eclipsed by the need to make even more. And what does “wanting to become rich” bring to our lives? It brings many “foolish and harmful desires” that lead to “ruin and destruction.” 

We are all heading for eternity, and in God’s economy, it’s not what we have accomplished on earth rather it’s about how we have invested in eternity, in the things that will last (1 Corinthians 3:11-15, Matthew 6:19-21). Many take the road of worldly wealth and invest entirely in temporal things, things sure to fade away (1 John 2:17). But those who serve God and make pleasing Him their lifelong goal, there are treasures, rewards, and fulfillment that no amount of earthly wealth can begin to match.  

So, the Bible tells us, “flee from these things, you man of God…” Everything surrounding the priority of material wealth and serving money, we are to flee. And in addition to that, we are to be content with what we have, keeping our character free from the love of money. Consider the following:

Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my Helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?” 

    Hebrews 13:5-6

Contentment is so fulfilling in that we can relax, pursue God’s calling on our lives, and as we pursue that calling, watch God provide for our every need. And if your testimony is anything like mine, you know that God not only meets our needs but also pours good things into our lives as well (Matthew 7:7-11). David put it this way:

But they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing.

        Psalm 34:10b

And Jesus says:

But seek first His (God’s) kingdom and His (God’s) righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

      Matthew 6:33

Those who seek the Lord will never be in want of any good thing. Think about that! Let that truth sink into your mind and heart. Our Lord even declares that as we seek God first, He Himself will provide everything that we need in this life. Jesus tells us to ask, to seek, and to knock because He is a benevolent God who longs to and takes pleasure in providing for those who belong to Him. Contrast that with the world and its philosophy of work, strive, compete, and always stay once step ahead of those around you. Believers, we have no need of living like that, the stress, the depending on ourselves, and the endless worry of whether or not we are going to have enough to last us into our old age. But notice that Jesus’ proclamation is for those who prioritize serving and walking with Christ first. When idolatry sets in, because of our own desires, attitudes, and wants, we can no longer claim that we are truly putting Him first. But for those who do…the provision is there.

And before we move on…compare these three scriptural truths and see whether you can pick out the one that is different from the other two. (1) “But they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing.” (2) “But seek first His (God’s) kingdom and His (God’s) righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (3) “But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.” Notice that two of them are promises while the other is a warning to not get caught in the love of material wealth. Also, the first two describe people that seek God and make Him the priority of their lives while that last one describes people whose focus is not on the Lord rather it is solely on wealth and how they might pursue it, hold onto it, and make it a lifetime endeavor. Truly tragic and so preventable!

The Bible instructs us to flee the love of money and the desire to become rich. Rather we are to prioritize Christ and our devotion and service to Him, being content in everything, claiming the very promises of God, and enjoying the perfect provision that comes, not from our own efforts but, from His hand!

So that’s what we are to flee. But the Bible doesn’t just tell us what to avoid but also instructs us on what to pursue. So what are we to pursue? Well, six (6) things: righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. 

(1) Righteousness is not rooted in our behavior rather righteousness is given to us as a gift from God when we surrender our lives to Jesus Christ (Romans 4:4-8). This righteousness can be defined as “being in right standing with God” and is the very reason that we can be confident in our position in Christ (Hebrews 4:14-16). 

(2) Godliness does have to do with the way that we live our lives. Godliness is exactly what we might think it is…living in a way that is godly and pleasing to Him. A good litmus test for this is to ask ourselves the question, “Do I want to please God with my life?” If the answer is, “yes,” then we should be making decisions that reflect that attitude.

(3) Faith is to trust God. When someone says that they have “faith,” we should be asking, “faith in who or what?” There is faith in ourselves and our own efforts. There is faith that someway, somehow, everything will eventually, randomly work out. Then there is faith in Jesus Christ, the only object of our faith that will save our souls and completely transform our lives.

(4) Love, agape, often used in the New Testament, should be our motivation for everything that we do. We should be shining lights for the gospel of Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:13-16, 2 Corinthians 5:20). We should be an honest people, a trustworthy people, and those that will speak the truth to others, even if what we say is met with rejection and a “gnashing of teeth.” The world is spiritually dark and we are to shine the love of Christ into the lives of others so that they, too, may come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. 

(5) Perseverance is vital if we are to see spiritual victory in our lives. Just like putting our best foot forward in anything that we do, we should understand the role that perseverance plays in our spiritual lives. We are to stay focused, on alert, steadfast in our faith in Christ, positioned in Him, and fully depending on the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us. And as we persevere, we see fruit begin to come from our lives as we exercise determination to serve Christ, even in a world that seems to be moving away from God (John 15:5, John 3:19-21).  

(6) Gentleness should be an attribute of every Christian. People will challenge us, insult us, and may even persecute us, but having a spirit of gentleness is essential as we respond to such evil, vile, and demonic behavior. After all, gentleness is a fruit of being filled with the Spirit of God (Galatians 5:22-23). 

Now let’s move to Paul’s second mention of “fleeing.” This one comes from 2 Timothy.  

“Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the name of the Lord from a pure heart.”

            2 Timothy 2:22

We need not go back over what we should be pursuing, as Christians. Paul mentions, again, righteousness, faith, and love. He also adds peace but let’s focus on what the Bible is warning us to flee. In addition to the love of money and the desire to become rich, as Christians, we are to flee from “youthful lusts.” We all have a past and while all of our lives will look differently from each other, we all have, as Christians, generally speaking, a story of redemption. Our testimony will include a description of our lives before Christ and how we now see Him working in our lives as a result of surrendering our lives to Him. Your specific sin may not be the same as mine and vice versa, but what we do have in common is that all of us were sinners in need of a Savior prior to meeting Jesus. And the day that we met Him (the day that we were saved), everything changed. 

When Paul says to flee from youthful lusts, he is acknowledging that we all have a past, a time in our lives when we were younger and, perhaps, were not living out of godly wisdom rather we were following our own desires and lusts. Look at how Peter expresses this:

For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles (those without Christ), having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. 

  1 Peter 4:3 

This is a good list in describing the mentality of many young people today and, unfortunately, the mindset of some adults who have never grown up. A good word to zero in on is the word “abominable.” This is a reminder just how God views all of the things on this list but especially that of “idolatry.” It is abominable in the eyes of God. We cannot live in a constant state of idolatry, making everyone and everything around us more important than God, and still be in right relationship with Him. But thankfully, the Holy Spirit, that lives in all of us, as born again believers in Jesus, acts as a safeguard to convict us when we begin to drift back into lifestyles that represent our old lives apart from Christ rather than the new lives that we have in Jesus (Ephesians 4:22-24). 

But the point is well made. We are to flee from youthful lusts, the things that used to grab our attention and the things that we thought were so important back when we were immature and a little less seasoned. 

Finally, all of these instructions are for “those who call on the name of the Lord from a pure heart.” Two things: (1) We are to be people who “call on the name of the Lord.” In fact, that is how we come to saving faith in Jesus. We have to come to the end of ourselves and, in humility, call on the name of the Lord (Romans 10:13). This is the only way for the salvation of the human soul. Salvation is exclusively through the name of Jesus (John 14:6, Acts 4:12). (2) We are to be a people seeking the Lord, “from a pure heart.” And that’s really the question…where is your heart? You know and, more importantly, God knows. We can fool other people, speak in “Christianese,” and live a pseudo-Christian life, but God knows where each of us is spiritually. Having a sincere, pure heart before the Lord is of utmost importance if we want to have fellowship with Him. God is not impressed by our religion when it comes short of allowing Him to completely transform us by the power of His Spirit (Isaiah 29:13). Authenticity…that is the key! 

So for all of us who fit this description and pass the test of being sincere, honest, and legitimate followers of Jesus Christ, we are to flee…flee the love of money, flee the desire to become rich, and flee from all that used to control us when we were younger and living apart from Christ. What about you? Is it the world or is it Christ? Let’s pursue the things that are eternal, behaviors that promote life, and lifestyles that are honoring to God!

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

James 4:4