Day 74 - It’s Time…To Run!
When you’re a baby, crawling will do just fine. As a toddler, standing up is an achievement, and walking is the “next step.†As adults, walking is the usual fare for most of our mature activities and involvements. However, there comes a time when walking is just not enough. In times of danger and excitement, when passions are running high, the only appropriate response is to run like the wind.
A grieving father sat on his front porch as the evening sun was dipping below the horizon. Night after night, he kept waiting to see a familiar face on the winding road leading up to the house. His son, a defiant prodigal, had decided to live his life on his own terms. He left in a huff, with his share of the inheritance, to “eat, drink, and be merry.†His father waited patiently, hoping against hope that his wayward son would one day return.
And then it happened. The Scriptures record the moment, “…but when he came to his senses…he got up and came to his father…†(Luke 15:17, 20) As the repentant son was approaching his home, the father did something that was absolutely extraordinary. He didn’t walk—he ran! In the Jewish culture of this era, it was highly inappropriate and socially unacceptable for a grown man to humiliate himself by “running.†But ran he did—unashamedly, enthusiastically, joyously…he ran. The story continues, “…while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.†(Luke 15:20)
To quote a dear brother pastor, “God is accelerating the redemption of all the lost peoples of the world. We are in the midst of the greatest mission opportunity in history.†We are living in extraordinary days. This is no time to crawl. It’s not the time to walk. We are living in a high season of evangelism, church growth, and world missions.
It’s time…to run!
Today’s Scripture Promise: “…Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets, that the one who reads it may run.†(Habakkuk 2:2)