Have you ever run really well? Perhaps it was a race, or just a wide open space beckoning you. Imagine that feeling of exhilaration: the breeze on your face, the loosening of your limbs, the tension falling away. The freedom that comes from choosing God’s ways is incredibly exhilarating. The writer of Proverbs describes it as walking unhampered, running without stumbling. The psalmist’s description of his own experience sounds similarly joyful: ‘I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free’ (Psalm 119:32).

I’ll tell you the image I have in my mind as I reflect on this.  It’s YouTube footage of ‘free runners’ making an unforgiving urban landscape of railings, walls and subways look like a playground. The runners are so graceful; they make it look easy and natural - but they have to be very disciplined, training their bodies to balance, twist, somersault and also their minds to judge distances accurately while on the move. There’s a lot at stake when your only ‘crash mat’ is the concrete paving below – you wouldn’t want to make a single slip!

Similarly, the choices we make in life - our moral judgements - either take us closer to God (a safe landing) or further away from his purposes and onto the concrete paving of self-reliance. Thankfully, we are not left to flounder around in the moral maze of contemporary living – God has given us a handbook, a map, but much more than that because the wisdom God’s word contains is not restricted to the page, it’s to be found in Christ himself and dwelling in our hearts by his Spirit.  It will take some discipline, but aren’t you inspired to seek heaven’s wisdom and become a ‘free runner’ too?

‘Free runners’ and the curious are all welcome at Bovingdon Baptist Church. Come along on a Sunday morning for worship, or midweek for house group or Coffee Morning.