Running From The Man

Last night at church, Pastor Miles told a story about a guy he knows who grew up in Mexico City.  When he was a kid/teen, one night he wanted to get out so he went to the movies.  It was a slow night so he had the entire theater to himself.  A man walked in and sat in the same row about 5 or 6 seats down.  The kid thought it was weird that out of the whole theater, he chose the same row he was sitting in.  Then, the guy moved one seat closer to him.  A couple minutes later, he moved another seat closer.  The kid thought to himself, if he moves one more seat closer, I'm getting up and running out of here.  He did, and the kid ran out of the theatre and into the lobby.  The man chased him.  He ran into the bathroom and hid in one of the stalls.  When the man walked past his stall, he got out and ran out of the bathroom and outside.  He slid under a car and waited.  He watched the man's feet running back and forth looking for him in the parking lot.  Eventually the man gave up and left.  The boy never saw him again.

Miles went on to explain that this is an analogy for many of our lives.  We are running from the man that's chasing us.  Whether it's a drug addiction, sin, our fears, insecurites, failures, grudges, etc.  The Devil has us so scared and so trapped that we feel we have no choice but to run.  And in that constant running, we are wasting our lives.  Wasting opportunities to fulfill God's plan and purpose for us.  That is Satan's very plan!  To hold us down so that we don't have time or energy to expand the Kingdom of God.  The good news is, with Jesus, we have the power to stand up, face that man and punch him in the face.  We are free in Christ which means we don't need to keep running.  God has already won the battle.  We need to look that man in the face, whatever form he might be, and tell him that we trust Jesus with our lives.  We don't need to run anymore because His plan for us is good.  It's better than we could ever imagine for ourselves.

"Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope."          -Eph 3:20 (NLT)


For me, the man chasing me is my anxiety.  Over things I can't control and things I can but don't.  I obsess so much over things I have said or done or ways I may have hurt people.  This pain and over-analyzation is crippling and wastes so much of my life.  I listen to the irrational voices in my head telling me I really messed up this time and it will ruin everything.  However, it is not the mistakes I make or do not make that are ruining everything, it is the fact that I'm spending so much time worrying about them.  I'm wasting time that I could be using to fulfill God's purpose for me.

Last night, I came across this verse written by Paul:

"Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God."          -Eph 4:1 (NLT)

If I am going to live a life that is worthy of my calling, I need to turn around, face my anxiety and punch it in the face.  I have the power in Christ to defeat the Enemy's grip on my life through my anxiety.  I know it won't be an easy process, but I am committed to begin telling Satan daily that I trust Jesus with my life.  I am no longer going to tremble in fear, believing the lies and feeling trapped.  Jesus has freed me from my sin and given me the power to defeat the man and live for Him instead.  I plan on living in a way that reflects these truths. 

And that is my new goal for 2010.  Things are going to be different.