What Are You Chasing?
January 4, 2026
What Are You Chasing?
2 Timothy 2:22
1. Delayed Obedience Becomes Disguised Disobedience
“Flee the evil desires of youth…” -2 Timothy 2:22
- What you don’t run from will eventually run you.
She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and RAN out of the house.. -Genesis 39:12
Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength. -Judges 16:15
- God never calls us to run from something without also calling us to run toward something better.
2. The Heart Moves in the Direction of Its Attention
“…and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace…” -2 Timothy 2:22
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. -Proverbs 4:23
- You don’t wake up one day changed—you slowly become who you’ve been watching.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. -Matthew 6:21
- Your heart follows what your eyes repeatedly fix on
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. -Romans 12:2
- Direction matters more than intention—because attention sets direction.
3. Habits Form Character Before Character Feels Fixed
Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. -Galatians 6:8
- Habits shape character long before character feels fixed.
4. Hunger Drives the Chase
O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. -Psalms 63:1
- What you chase reveals what you crave.
- Misplaced hunger leads to misplaced pursuit.
- God doesn’t shame desire—He redeems it.
5. God Uses Pursuit to Shape Destination
I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me -Philippians 3:12
- Your pursuit shapes your destination and who you become along the way.
- The direction you pursue today is shaping the person you will be tomorrow.