It could very well be the most memorable line in recent movie history: “Run Forrest, run”! It was spoken by a little girl encouraging her friend Forrest Gump to run from a bunch of bullies. You remember the scene, right? As Forrest ran, his leg braces came off and he ran faster and faster and faster. He ran so fast he outran the bullies on their bikes.
Run Forrest, run!
Amos said the same thing to the people of his day and ours:
Do what is good and run from evil so that you may live! Then the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will be your helper, just as you have claimed. Amos 5:14 (NLT)
Not only did Amos call the people to do good, he called them to run away from evil. Apparently, the people of his day were allowing evil to hang around, tolerating it and staying around it. Oh my goodness, we do the same thing today!
Between our thoughts and actions, the media we take in, the conversations we listen to and participate in, the priorities we let rule our lives…so much of the time we think we can live side-by-side with evil and not be affected. We think we can put evil on a shelf in the next room and trust that it will not bother us. That is completely ridiculous! Completely!
So, I would encourage you to run as fast as you can from anything that is not good. There is not much in the world that is neutral…most things are either good and helpful or they are not. If they are not…RUN, RUN, RUN!
If we do good and run from evil, God will help us. What an amazing promise He has made!
