Why Do I Push Things Away? | Steven Furtick

All of the runners in the house, raise your hand.  I wrote that title down. "We run for a reason.

" That's my message: Running for a Reason. I  thought, "That sounds like I'm launching a 5K. That doesn't sound like I'm starting  a sermon.

" But the Lord comes with these amazing confirmations. I put my Bible down  yesterday for a few minutes to take a little study break. I'd been up since early working on  this message, and I just needed a little break.

When I put it on the Olympics, they were running  the relay race. I had already picked out the title and the Scripture, Running for a Reason, so  I took it as a little bit of a sign. What I must confess to you is…it's so embarrassing…I  started crying watching these people run.

Now, not in a big ugly cry way or anything. Not  crocodile tears. Just a little trickle tear.

The bad part about it was the person who won wasn't  even American. They weren't even from our country. I didn't feel the tears come while she was  running.

I felt the tears come when she was looking at her teammates after she pulled  ahead and won. I'm like, "Why am I crying? This isn't even my country.

I don't even like to  run. " In fact, when I see runners on the road, I judge them. I do.

"Don't you know there's  a better way to get in shape than this? " There are so many preferable ways to exercise.  "Well, it's a runner's high.

" Okay. Well, I would choose a non-runner's low over  whatever… There is no high on the other side of that that makes it worth it to me,  but observing this lady made me emotional. As I paused and thought about the correlation  between the message I was preparing and the emotion I experienced, I saw that watching someone  run and knowing the importance and the priority of what they're running for and who they're  running with… That's why it made me emotional.

It was a relay race, so when I saw all of  the people the anchor of the race brought along with her into victory, it touched me  to know that something kicked in at that moment that made her say, "For my country I  have to do this. For my friend I have to do this. For my mom who sat at every track  meet since I was 4 years old…" I thought about all of the people who believed  in her when she first started running, when she wasn't much of a runner,  and I thought about my wife Holly.

I'm just telling you this because  the connection was profound to me. When we first started doing  ministry together, I had no visible gift or really any kind of clues  that this ministry would exist one day, but she believed in me. I know she believed in  me because we served on a ministry team together where we sat down… I didn't know how to be a  leader.

I had never led a ministry team before. We're sitting there, and we're planning out our  summer that we're going to go around and travel and preach. I'll never forget this.

I put up  for discussion what our theme should be for the summer ministry. I was trying to get everybody  involved, but I found out God so loved the world he didn't send a committee, and if you really  want to get something done, you just have to make a decision. We were going back and forth,  and I threw out the theme "Run to Win.

" I said, "How about 'Run to Win'? Wouldn't that be a  good theme from 1 Corinthians, chapter 9? " One person didn't think that was a very good  idea because, you know, "Well, it's really not a competition.

It's really not about winning. "  A girl told my oldest son Elijah one time, "It's not whether you win or lose; it's whether you're  having fun. " He looked back at her, cold-blooded, and said, "Well, I'm not having fun unless I'm  winning.

" He was, like, 5 when he said that. So, it's in the blood. We're kind of competitive. 

I liked that theme about "Run to Win. " So, this guy is saying, "Well, it's not really  a competition," and then this girl over here is saying, "Well, I think the Christian life is  really more like a walk. " One has a problem with the word win, and one has a problem with the  word run.

All I'm left with is to. One of the team members looked at me. She was really soft-spoken. 

She said, "Steven, we need you to lead us. Tell us what to do. " From that moment forward, I decided  you can be confused as long as you're confident.

That's the great secret for life. You can bluff  your way through a lot of stuff in life. When she said that to me so softly… I don't even  know if anybody else on the team heard, but she said that to me, and I said, "Run to Win!

" Then we went on the road. I'm going to  get to this story about David and what Paul said in 1 Corinthians in just a moment,  but just to set the table for this revelation… We get to our very first church. We're so  excited.

We have developed our curriculum. We have developed our teachings. "This is  Holly's session, this is Seth's session, this is Joni's session, this is Grace's session,  and then I'm going to come in and close it out.

We're going to do it over the course of five  days and really build this theme of 'Run to Win. '" You know, all of these wonderful plans.  But we arrived to the spot, and there were no people.

Zero kids had shown up for the youth  camp, and it was our first camp of the summer. I looked at Holly. I had learned  from our little committee meeting, "We need you to lead us.

" I said, "You! Make  a flyer," and I pointed at her. I think that's the moment she fell in love with me, when I  said, "You!

Make a flyer. " I think something about that just… "Ooh. Ooh.

Make a flyer. "  She made a flyer. It said, "Run to Win.

" We went to Walmart. We covered 500 windshields  with "Run to Win" propaganda, telling those kids to get to the Baptist church. By the end  of the week, there were 25 kids in the room.

I preached like it was 25,000, because I've  always been doing it from a place of passion, not a place of performance. I'll preach if there  are five of you, five thousand, or five million. See, I think this is a common misconception  about people you see who go really hard after something.

A lot of times, you will see the  results of their ambition and not really understand the reasons for their ambition. For  Holly and me, I'm thankful that not only have we always had something to run for, but  I'm grateful I had someone to run with. That made me smile to think about how here I am,  25 years later, still running with the right one.

Now, this is not a marriage seminar. So, I'm  crying watching the Olympics, and I'm thinking, "God, this is you speaking to me," because I must  be speaking today to people who are exhausted. I must be speaking today to people who need a second  wind.

I must be speaking to people today who are running the race of their life, running around,  running like a chicken with its head cut off. What a disturbing image we use to just describe  picking the kids up from practice. "I've been running around like a chicken…" Why do you  have to cut a chicken's head off?

Just say you're busy. But Paul said, "Do you not  know that in a race all the runners run…? " When I asked a moment ago, "How many  runners do I have in the room?

" I was surprised. I thought every hand should go up,  because everybody is running from something. As a matter of fact, if you are not a runner,  you will find yourself lonely in the context of the Christian faith.

The Judeo-Christian  faith, which takes its roots and has its ripples from this Holy Scripture, is full  of people who ran for different reasons, starting with… Let's talk about our  most famous runner in the Bible. If I say, "A big fish swallowed him  up and spit him out," you'll say, "Jonah. " (Look at how smart you were  with that Bible trivia.

You studied, didn't you? ) The Bible says Jonah  ran away from the Lord. Okay.

Well, judge Jonah all you want, but Moses ran from a  crime he committed once it had been discovered. Moses ran from a body he buried in  an effort to defend his own people. Moses ran so far he ended up leaving  the place where he was the prince of Egypt and becoming a shepherd for  his father-in-law Jethro.

Jacob ran from Esau. He ran from his own brother  because he tried to steal his identity. You know who we never talk about when we talk  about runners in the Bible, though?

David. David ran. You don't believe me?

Well,  he shows up one day with some lunch for his brothers. Check this out. He's just a young  boy.

He's 17 years old or something like that. He wasn't able to go out to the war, but his  dad charged him to bring his brothers a meal. I love this picture in 1 Samuel 17.

It says,  "David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his  brothers how they were. " If you know this story, you won't be surprised to find that  when David ran to the battle lines… Look at verse 23, the next thing that happens.  "Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted  his usual defiance, and David heard it.

Whenever the Israelites…" That's all of the  people who had been watching this go down day after day after day after day. "…saw the  man, they all fled from him in great fear. " David is running toward what others  are running from.

There is a spirit about David. There is a belligerence  about David. Some would say a naivete about David.

What everybody else is  running from… He's like, "Who's that? " Some would call David dumb. I believe he's running  for a reason.

The reason I believe he's running in this moment is he hasn't lived enough yet to know  you don't run toward giants; you run from giants. In some things being dumb and young will  help you with in trusting God. It really will.

Sometimes being young and dumb will  make you go to Walmart or Kinkos and make 500 flyers when nobody showed up for your  event and walk around Walmart putting them on windshields and not even worry, "What if  somebody shoots me while I'm touching their car without permission? " That's the thing  I would think about now. "What if there's a lawsuit?

I don't want anybody putting anything  on my windshield. I don't want to do this. " Something about being young will make you run. 

We were laughing the other day because Elijah has been home for the summer, and I've missed the  sound of him just running through the house. No, not running for any specific thing through  the house. Just running because, apparently, he has the excess energy to just get  where he's going that much faster.

You would think maybe he was late for an  appointment or maybe there was something that needed attending to. No. Just running  because he's young.

Just running because, "Why not? I just feel like running. " I think  to myself, "I wish I had the energy just to run for no reason.

" But wouldn't that  look weird if you saw me run…? I mean, why did you laugh? It doesn't look right for  me at this age to be running for no reason.

You are thinking to yourself, "Look, man. That's  kind of awkward. We don't want to watch you run for no reason just because you have excess energy  to burn.

" A lot of times, the initial thing that fuels our passion in our walk with Christ is our  ignorance, not our awareness. It's why we run into relationships and have no trouble trusting  people. We've never had trouble with people.

We don't know yet not to trust them. Our  trust muscle has not yet been ruptured, so we run. We run to opportunities because  we've never experienced loss.

We run to investment because we've never experienced  collapse. We run because we're young. David not only runs to the battle lines when  he's delivering the food to his brothers, but when Goliath came toward him with a sword…  By some estimates, 9 feet tall of Philistine, fierce, warrior energy steps to the battle  lines.

The Bible says in chapter 17, verse 48, "As the Philistine moved closer  to attack him, David ran quickly…" There's something about this dumb, young David  that I think we all miss in our lives. That's the power of nostalgia. It's taking you back to  a time when it was new to you and you didn't know what you didn't know, so you would just go without  a plan.

"Who needs a plan when I have youth? Who needs a plan when I have personality? Who needs  a plan?

I'll figure it out when I get there. " Y'all, to me, these days, I don't go 12  minutes from the house without locating the nearest restroom I might could stop at along  the way. That's just the truth.

But here's what I want you to know. It's one thing to run  when you're young. It is another thing to intentionally run when you've been through some  experiences that could have made you bitter, that could have made you afraid, that  could have made you stay put where you are.

Paul is describing in his great letter  to the Corinthian church how the runners run in a game. He says they set their mind  on a goal, they set their feet on a path, and they run in a line, and when they enter the  games… I don't know if you noticed this. He said they go into strict training.

Now let's do a  little bit of a relay race from David to Paul. David, of course, was hundreds of years  before Paul came along. David and Paul are both experiencing the same type of thing. 

Paul is taking the gospel to the churches that have never heard about Jesus, and he is  dealing with these issues. David, of course, is the second king Israel has ever known.  He's following in the wake of King Saul, who was supposed to support him, mentor  him, and show him how to do this king thing.

But Saul attacked what God was trying to  anoint. There is a sense in which sometimes God is bringing you something that is intended  to relieve you, but you resist it because of something that is within you. You can't even  figure out why you're pushing things away, things God sent as an answer to your  prayer.

Have you ever pushed away an answered prayer because you didn't know  how to sustainably deal with it? I have. I have prayed to God in seasons of my life to  send me people to encourage me and support me, but when the encouragers came to support me, I  didn't believe what they said, because my own insecurity made it impossible for me to believe  they could really feel that way about me.

So, I pray a prayer for God to send a person.  God sends a person in response to the prayer, but the patterns of my life will not  enable me to receive that person. So, I prayed a prayer for a person.

I have a  pattern that won't allow me to receive the person, and now I keep praying about people God has  sent, and I am praying away what God gave because of something on the inside of me. What I'm  trying to say is as fast as God is running to you, some of you are running from the answer  he gave because it does not feel familiar. In Paul's letter, he was talking  about people who run to get a prize, and in David's story… There's a  similarity.

Both are about running, but for different reasons. I want to read  you the story again in 1 Samuel 22:1 now that I've set the context, and then  I'll answer the question of the text. It says, "David left Gath and escaped to  the cave of Adullam.

When his brothers and his father's household heard about it,  they went down to him there. " Here's where we need to take a little break away. David is  in a cave, but he's called to be a king.

Isn't it confusing when God calls you one thing  and your circumstances call you another? Isn't it crazy when God calls you  free and your habits call you addict? Isn't it crazy when God calls you loved but  your emotions feel closed?

Isn't it amazing when God calls you chosen but you feel left  out? Enter David, the chosen one of God, the one who wasn't called to appear before the prophet  Samuel when he came to anoint the future king. As a matter of fact, at the moment  the king was about to be chosen, David was just doing his chores, tending the  sheep.

But the prophet knew each time he went to anoint another son with oil, "This is not  the one God has chosen. " One commentary says the oil froze until David showed up. The oil  would not move from the flask of the prophet to anoint the next king.

David did not have  to chase the crown; the crown chased David. This may set you free from thinking you  have to be at a certain place at a certain time or you have to get the attention  of a certain person or you have to be recognized in a certain way in order  for your anointing to be real. Being recognized doesn't make it real.

It is  what it is before they say what they say. I was anointed to preach when there were no  people coming to the "Run to Win" seminar. I'm anointed to preach today.

The only  difference and what has changed is the number of people I'm doing it with and for.  One thing I need you to know about your life is it's one thing to run for something you chose  to run toward. "I'm going to start this business.

I'm going to find a husband. I'm going to get  my life together. I'm going to lose 20 pounds.

I'm going to run a marathon. " (The Devil is  a liar. The Lord didn't tell you to do that.

) It's one thing to run after something you  chose, but it's another thing to run when you're being chased. I don't necessarily just  want to preach today to those who are running toward something. That's wonderful.

If you're  motivated and inspired and are like, "By 50, I want to have this much money. By 40,  I'm going to have that much so when I'm 50 I can have this much…" That's  fine if you've figured that out. But there is a sense in which you and I both  know that sometimes what's really moving you in your life is not what you're running to; it's what  you're running from.

People see what you run to, and they judge you by that. People see what you  run to, and sometimes they admire you for that. The significance of the text in 1 Samuel 22  is that David is a king and he's in a cave.

He's not running from a giant. No. He's not  running from his assignment from God.

No. He is running from the king, and he is running from  what he is going to be. Not by his own choice.

David did not sign up for this event. Saul,  the king, was supposed to hand David the baton. Instead, he is beating him over the head with  the baton he is supposed to be handing off.

See, some of us run because we weren't handed  everything easily. Some of us run because what we were handed was hazardous. Some of  us run, and we don't even understand what compels us and drives us.

You don't really  understand this until you take some time in life to reflect and ask, "Why am I so hard  on myself? Why am I so prone to anger? Why do I always look for how things are going  to go wrong even when they're going right?

" You start discovering that some of the  things you are broken by are because of the batons that were not handed to you  in the relay that never was because you are running from something. It's hard  to run toward what I've never seen. It's hard to run toward wholeness when I  only saw my parents cuss each other out.

It's hard to run toward wholeness when I  only saw people continue to self-sabotage. It is hard to run toward something that has never  been exemplified before me. So, now I find myself, like David, running from something I ought to be  able to run to.

Saul should have helped David, and he didn't. So David is in a cave because of a king  who did not ever want his crown to begin with. The Lord sent me to speak to  somebody today to tell you, "Don't let the place you're in make  you confused about the person you are.