Stuck In A Shuttle

Run For Your Lives!

Genesis 19:17 New Living Translation (NLT)

17 When they were safely out of the city, one of the angel ordered, "Run for your lives! And don't look back or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away!"

Genesis chapter 19 records a story of Lot and his family. Remember Lot's wife? She was a darling wasn't she? A time came when the city became too sinful to live in. So then God had to do something. He sent messengers and entrusted them with a message of hope.

 An instruction came. It wasso sternly said. "Run for your lives!"The message couldn't have been clearer! Destruction came and the only solutionwas to stay at distance from it. "Run,"the angel said. It was no time to move about at a snail's pace. It was time togo. It was time to leave and obey! Faith is obedience and obedience is faith.You cannot obey what you don't have faith in. Abraham had faith that he'd havea son and that's why he obeyed God. He never knew where he was supposed to go.The only instruction was to leave the area.

So Lot received such amessage. "Run!" Joseph also exercisedthe same principle, and how it works so perfectly! You must run! Run away fromthe sin that besets you. We should run away from the friends that invokecertain behavioral patterns. It's not always easy to escape stuff that we don'teven understand. Why should we run anyway? 

Genesis 39:6-7 New Living Translation (NLT)

6 So Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility overeverything he owned. With Joseph there, he didn't worry about a thing-exceptfor what kind of food to eat! Joseph was a very handsome and well-built youngman, 7and Potiphar's wife soon began to look at him lustfully. "Come and sleepwith me," she demanded.

Oh, Brother Joseph is out of this world. Joseph was the man in power. Had the looks, the status. He was a real catch. Potiphar's wife took notice of him. There is nothing more dangerous than having a girl have such a strong desire for a guy. Boy, it's not too safe. She said, "Come and sleep with me." The brother stirred up something in his master's wife. Her hormones couldn't resist Joseph's niceness. He was handsome, the Bible says. Well-built. He was strong with an attractive body. He comes off having a six pack, and confusing older women. 

So "come," the oldie said. "Sleep with me," she demanded. She expected Joseph to succumb to the temptation. She wasn't expecting anything less than a yes. This should show us something about young ladies with such strong desires for men. She looked at Joseph lustfully, she was ready to give him her all. It didn't matter to her that it would be a sin and that it would be shameful. Wouldn't it be called adultery? That's the term for it, isn't it? 

We shouldn't stronglydesire the things of this world. See, it just takes a desire to pave a way foranything you'd think about. It starts with a desire. Her desire caused her tothink that way about the brother. Such strong desires can easily causedestruction. The only acceptable desire is in becoming a servant of God,because a desire paves a way. The Bible wants us to desire something else.

1 Timothy 3:1 King James Version (KJV)

1 This is a faithful saying: if a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.

The word 'Bishop' is Episkopos in Greek. Which literallymeans an overseer. In other words, apastor or a priest. I know you might be thinking some are called to be servantswhile others aren't. You might not become a pastor, but what God really wantsis for us to desire to work for Him. To serve Him in other words. A priest is aservant of God. When we think Pastor, most of us will easily think we cannot beor aren't capable of becoming pastors. So there's a desire. To become a bishop.

Genesis 39:10 New Living Translation (NLT)

10 She kept putting pressure on Joseph day after day, but he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out of her way as much as possible. 

Brother Joseph suffered. You cannot have a lady follow after you so strongly and not finally give in right? He was given a free passport to sleep with his master's wife. Remember she demanded, that's why she kept at it. Joseph refused and couldn't do it. He chickened out! He wasn't masculine enough perhaps. It's what the world would think. 

Joseph had God and couldn'tsin before His God. Whatever the case was, He just couldn't. He kept away. Asmuch as possible, he kept away from her. He avoided and never wanted to crosspaths with the oldie. She was persistent and so was Joseph. They both couldn'tgive up. One wanted to have sex while the latter didn't.

He chose to run! If we are going to live for Christ and represent Him, we ought to run away. Lot was sternly warned. "Run!" The angel said. "Don't look back!" The moment you accept Christ, a journey begins. You embark on a journey whose end is supposed to lead you to heaven. Isn't that why we become born again Christians? Something begins. And the moment that we start to have a serious relationship with God, the devil also begins to set traps for us. When you gave your life to Christ, your name appeared on most wanted list. The devil is after serious believers!