My Journey Group has been diving into a few different 2 Timothy passages. This week we camped out in 2 Timothy 2:22-26, here is verse 22:

ALONG WITH THOSE who call on the Lord out of a pure heart."

In this quick little verse, the Apostle Paul charges two main things (in caps above):
1) Flee
2) Pursue

Depending on what scholars you read (or don't read), at the end of the day the point is very simple: Run from evil and pursue God. BUT - don't leave out the phrase, "along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart."

Reality is, you can't tinker with evil. You can't get close to it or it will bite you. You don't hold it at an arms length and hope to not touch it. Scripture is clear on sin and evil - you run! As you run, you pursue the opposite - righteousness, faith, love, and peace.

While you run and pursue you HAVE TO surround yourself with the right kind of people - in this verse they are title as "others who have pure hearts." There are a lot of people that appear to be "good people", but are their hearts pure? You can't surround yourself with just anybody, they have to be people with pure hearts. Pure in every sense of your discernment and pure in every sense of biblical account.

So, in examining this passage "with others" in my living room on Tuesday night, we realized that this elementary principle is not only a good idea, but it is how you run and who you run with.

What are you running from?
What evil is God asking you to flee?
What are you running towards?
Are righteousness, faith, love, and peace part of that pursuit?
WHO are you running with?

Are they friends or people with pure hearts?

You gotta run at the right things and with the right folks. It isn't a good idea or optional, rather it is biblical. Run!