From the heart of the
pastor:
“Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to keep his
life shall lose it, and whoever loses his life shall
preserve it” (Lk.
17:32f.).
Lot’s wife remains
nameless and faceless, though representing all
mankind. Her heart was not weaned from the matters
of this world. Her interest was affixed to earthly
desires. She began a journey out of iniquity with a
righteous man, but she never forfeited her
attraction for a world that is passing away.
Lot’s wife saw the
angels. She witnessed the blinding of the Sodomites
via the power of God’s angels. She experienced an
angel’s touch (Gen. 19:16). Nonetheless, her
possessions and her place mattered more to her than
obeying God’s word.
Augustine said of Lot’s
wife, “Her salt seasons us as a caution.” You
cannot afford glances at holdings mattering more to
you than your life in Christ – risk your physical
life if you must, but never your spiritual life.
Eyes unaffixed upon Christ result in paradise lost.
God says, “If then you have been raised up with
Christ, keep seeking the things above…. Set your
mind on the things above, not on the things that are
on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden
with Christ in God” (Col. 3:1,2f.).
God instructs Christians
to forget what lies behind and reach forward to what
lies ahead (Phil. 3:13). Lot’s wife could not
forget what was behind because it did not lie behind
– Sodom remained her life. The bias of her heart
betrayed the movement of her feet, for the heart
always reveals its dominant loves.
Lot’s wife was subject
to three disabilities:
- She did not trust
God – Galatians 6:7f.
- She loved Sodom – I
John 2:15-17
- Lot did not sanctify
her with strong husbanding – Ephesians 5:25-33
You cannot afford to
look back because “no one after putting his hand to
the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of
God” (Lk. 9:62). Earthliness estranges you from
godliness. The worldly begs your response.
Nevertheless, God says, “But My righteous one shall
live by faith; and if he shrinks back, My soul has
no pleasure in him” (Heb. 10:38).
Nostalgia, tradition and
inappropriate longings are expensive. Refuse to
imagine the forbidden. Hesitation, in the presence
of clear direction, assures ruin. Strict liability
accompanies sin because no one can limit God’s
address to disobedience.
Lot’s wife held to what
she never should have possessed. Do you? Jesus
says, “He who loves his life loses it; and he who
hates his life in this world shall keep it to life
eternal” (Jn. 12:25).
