Lot: Missed Opportunities
God’s People on Mission
Lot: Missed Opportunities
No more devotions about weddings for a little while, I think that’s only fair. And it is way, way too early to be talking about anything else that is often the natural ‘fruit’ of a marriage. But I’ve had the opportunity to catch up with many members of the family that we don’t get to see so often this past weekend and that had me thinking of family relationships.
When it comes to family relationships, one of the great ‘missed opportunities’ described in the Bible is the story of Lot, nephew of Abraham. It seems that their relationship was close. Possibly more than anyone else Lot had the opportunity to live alongside his uncle, to learn from his example and to build upon the Godly foundation he’d have set.
Lot had a blessed existence, but somehow he always managed to find himself in places that God had to pull him out of. Lot is described as righteous in 2 Peter 2:7, and there we read words of exceptional comfort:
For if God … delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)— then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, (2 Peter 2:4 – 9)
While Lot is described as a righteous man, he found himself upset, each day, by the wickedness of those around him. It seems that, even though he was described as ‘righteous,’ we’d have to conclude that he found himself in the wrong place. A righteous man in the wrong place! And here is where the lesson is difficult, but important for us if we are wanting to be people who are ready to serve God faithfully.
I’d like you to consider two questions:
· Is it possible for a person to be a Christian but dwelling in the wrong place, or maybe in a different context, hanging out with the wrong crowd? We’d have to say ‘Yes it is!’ And when we are in that place, we can recognize it because we are constantly struggling, wrestling with the sinful things being said and done around us.
I’m not saying that God doesn’t call us into places to be His witnesses, of course He does, but not to ‘hang out.’ Does that make sense? It is a difficult one to discern, but one we need to wrestle with.
· But there is a worse situation we could be in. What if we are in the ‘wrong place’ and NOT uncomfortable with the behaviour that is happening around us. If we are no longer shocked by evil behaviour but now consider it normal, because we’ve become dulled to the sin around us, apathetic towards the immorality of the standards of those we are with, and maybe tarnished by them.
As we read earlier in 2 Peter, it is comforting to know that God is able to deliver the righteous, but we don’t want Him to have to drag us out when He comes to judge the wicked, like he did for Lot. In his situation, it seems clear that Lot wasn’t ready to be a witness to the world in which he was living – he was being tarnished by it.
When Jesus prayed for His disciples, he asked The Father:
I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. (John 17:15 – 16)
Let us prayerfully watch and discern so that we will know the difference. We’ve not yet been removed from the world, we are here on Mission as His witnesses. But let us ensure that we are not tarnished by the world, and let us pray that we know the difference between ministering to the lost and hanging out in the wrong places, so that we maintain a faithful witness of His righteousness in us.
