Running From God: How Foolish Is That?
God is Ultimate Reality. He is the source of everything good, true and beautiful. He is wisdom. The best definition of wisdom I ever heard goes like this: Wisdom is the God-given ability to see the true nature of things. In other words, wisdom is God's perspective on everything.
But when you run from God, you run from all that. You run from goodness and truth and beauty and wisdom.
As a natural consequence, you make foolish choices.
When Jonah runs from God, he decides to get on a boat. How foolish is that? A boat? In the middle of the sea? That's foolish.
People who run from God never run to safety. They run towards self-destruction and danger. Financially, relationally, career-wise, you name it -- people who are running from God do things that others look at and say, "No, not that!"
For example, I sometimes speak to college students, and I'll tell them, "If you're going to run from God, do yourself and everyone else a favor: do not get married -- do not have kids -- do not borrow money. You will regret it."
Eventually, their lives begin to unravel, and they think it's a result of all the bad choices they've made.
Their relationships come apart, and they trace the demise of the relationship trying to figure out where they went wrong. They went wrong when they left the ultimate source of love and acceptance. Ever since then, they've been looking for something from people that they aren't designed to give.
Their business goes under, and they trace the demise of their career trying to figure out where they went wrong. They went wrong when they left the ultimate source of meaning and purpose. Ever since then, they've been looking for something from their job that their job isn't designed to give.
A lot of us, if we were in Jonah's shoes, would have thought, "If only I'd gotten on a different boat. If only I'd sailed to a different place. I should have gone to Egypt instead of Tarshish."
Jonah's life didn't start to unravel because of that city or that boat or that storm. Jonah's life started coming apart the moment he started running from God.
But when you run from God, you run from all that. You run from goodness and truth and beauty and wisdom.
As a natural consequence, you make foolish choices.
When Jonah runs from God, he decides to get on a boat. How foolish is that? A boat? In the middle of the sea? That's foolish.
People who run from God never run to safety. They run towards self-destruction and danger. Financially, relationally, career-wise, you name it -- people who are running from God do things that others look at and say, "No, not that!"
For example, I sometimes speak to college students, and I'll tell them, "If you're going to run from God, do yourself and everyone else a favor: do not get married -- do not have kids -- do not borrow money. You will regret it."
Eventually, their lives begin to unravel, and they think it's a result of all the bad choices they've made.
Their relationships come apart, and they trace the demise of the relationship trying to figure out where they went wrong. They went wrong when they left the ultimate source of love and acceptance. Ever since then, they've been looking for something from people that they aren't designed to give.
Their business goes under, and they trace the demise of their career trying to figure out where they went wrong. They went wrong when they left the ultimate source of meaning and purpose. Ever since then, they've been looking for something from their job that their job isn't designed to give.
A lot of us, if we were in Jonah's shoes, would have thought, "If only I'd gotten on a different boat. If only I'd sailed to a different place. I should have gone to Egypt instead of Tarshish."
Jonah's life didn't start to unravel because of that city or that boat or that storm. Jonah's life started coming apart the moment he started running from God.
posted by john alan turner at 9:15 AM
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