2 John 1
By Pastor Libby
Running Ahead
“Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.” (v. 9)
Have you ever run ahead? It’s a rather normal occurrence in my household. With three active sons I can’t begin to count the times that one or all of them have struck out on their own. My oldest son especially when he was younger, frequently frustrated many a family outing, as we sometimes spent more time looking for him than enjoying the activity.
I remember one time in particular at the Boise River Festival. One minute we were being entertained by a giant chess set and the next, five year old Caleb was nowhere to be found. Hundreds of people around, an unfamiliar city, multiple venues in various parks, a river nearby, and we finally found him unconcerned, about 1000 feet ahead of us, watching a go-cart track. He didn’t even know or care that he was lost!
To a certain extent when one runs ahead it presupposes a certain independence from that which you are running from. In the case of my sons, as they got older (older than five!), these small and varied doses of independence were good for them, just hard on a mother’s heart, emotionally and physically.
Yet when we run ahead of God’s teaching as the Gnostics were want to do in the Apostle John’s time, independence becomes synonymous with an absence of a real relationship with Christ. When you run ahead of God’s teaching, you don’t have much need for the “teacher” anymore. In its extreme, this type of independence can take the shape of discontentment, pride, lack of patience with others who are not as “enlightened” as you, and disobedience.
When we found my son Caleb that day, he was in big trouble. He had run ahead of our group because he was bored with where he found himself, he just knew there was something better ahead, and he couldn’t wait for that to be revealed (discontent, lack of patience, and disobedience.) For the rest of the day he had to be holding mom or dad’s hand where ever he went.
Are you holding tightly to God’s hand or are you running ahead of his will and his teaching in your life? As you evaluate your time with Christ, know that if you have found yourself running ahead, it’s easy to stop and turn around. God is waiting to forgive and open his arms of love and grace to receive you today.
