I love when the Lord opens my eyes to new thoughts and I see a passage or phrase differently than before. That happened this morning with the story of Lot. A phrase jumped out at me and made me start thinking.
Genesis 19:16 "And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand,"
What made Lot linger? What was he thinking about? Did he linger because of the things in his home or the friends he was leaving? What ever it was he lingered. In the Strong's Concordance is says "to question or hesitate, that is, (by implication) to be reluctant:", If an angel appeared to me and told me to leave because the Lord was going to destroy my city, how would I react? Am I so close to this world that I would linger? Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Are my treasures in this world? What treasures have I laid up in Heaven?
- Children
- Family
- Neighbors
- Friends
- Co-workers
Or are "things" more important? We know from Scriptures that Lot was immersed in the ways of Sodom.
We need to safeguard ourselves from this. God put us in this world so what do we do? How do we safeguard ourselves but being like Lot and being so involved with the world that we would hesitate to leave? The answer for this as in all questions can be found in the Bible. (Here are a couple thoughts I came up with. There are many more but just 2 that hit me today.)
1. Be like minded with Christ. Philippians 2 is a great passage about having the mind of Christ. It is a guide of how to live as Christ wants us to live by thinking as he does. Verse 15 "That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;" We are here to shine as lights. We are in the midst of this world, but we do not have to be part of it. When we wonder if we should do something, we need to compare it to the teaching of Scriptures. My mom had a saying growing up "If in doubt, DON'T". There will be no doubt if we ask God to keep us like minded.
2. Abide in Christ. This goes with being like minded. If we abide in Christ, then our mind will be like His. One of my favorite verses is Psalm 91:1 "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. " When we are dwelling in God's Word we will be abiding under Him. We need to meditate on what we read. I fall into a trap often of just reading and not thinking about it. I try to read through the Bible each year. Sadly, I am not always consistent, but I still press for the goal. I have to remember to think as I read not just read to "fulfill" a set goal.
I John 2:14-17 talks about abiding in the Word and being part of the world.
14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. (We overcome when we abide)
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. (Do the things I love fall under these categories?)
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
This goes back to being like minded. When we ask God to reveal Himself to us, he will. We will not love the world if we are truly in love with God.
Lot clearly loved the world and the things of the world. Did Lot Learn his lesson? We hear no more about Lot which brings me to believe that he probably didn't. What about us? If we are confronted with our sin (whether by a friend, in a message, or by Bible study) do we pridefully deny it or do we humbly repent and strive to sin no more. As we study God's Word he will reveal sin and our hearts need but it up to do us to listen and do something about it.
Questions I am asking myself today and pondering:
What makes me linger?
Do I linger on things of the world or things of God?
Where is my treasure?
Will I make necessary changes today?
Stay in God's Word daily and he will show you what is right. We don't need the opinions of people but the statutes of God.
