I thought about leaving my man Lot alone and move on to another issue about Abraham.  But in actuality, Lot is like most believers I know.  He lived more in the world than he did in the spirit.  In the end, his fence riding cost him everything. Listen to what the New Testament reveals about him.

 

7 and if He (God) rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men 8 for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds, 2 Peter 2:7-8

 

I am not saying Lot had his act so together that we should follow his example in living for the Lord. Everything that we know about Lot speaks of the fact that he cared only for himself. He took the opportunity to get the best from his uncle Abraham, who had been like a father to him. He put his family in jeopardy in order to be in a place where he could achieve financial and political power. In addition, Lot did not internalize God’s law or build his own altars to worship God.  Therefore, he was certainly not able to declare God’s truth to others, including his closest family members.

The only sense in which Lot was righteous was in that fact that he had, at some point in his past, established a relationship with God. He had placed his faith in God as the truth-teller, the creator of the universe, and the only one who could forgive him of his sins. He was what we would call today, a Christian. Lot was like many Christians today. He was on his way to heaven, but he was making the most out of fleshly situations while he was here on earth.

Lot’s story reminds me of “rocket man“. His story is below.

The Arizona highway patrol were mystified when they came upon a pile of smoldering wreckage embedded in the side of a cliff rising above the road at the apex of a curve. The metal debris resembled the site of an airplane crash, but it turned out to be the vaporized remains of an automobile. The make of the vehicle was unidentifiable at the scene.  The folks in the lab finally figured out what it was and pieced together the events that led up to its demise.  It seems that a former Air Force sergeant had somehow got hold of a Jet-Assisted Take-Off unit. JATO units are solid-fuel rockets used to give heavy military transport airplanes an extra push for takeoff from short airfields. The sergeant took the JATO unit into the Arizona desert and found a long, straight stretch of road. He attached the JATO unit to his car, jumped in, accelerated to a high-speed, and fired off the rocket. The facts, as best as could be determined, are as follows:  The operator was driving a 1967 Chevy Impala. He ignited the JATO unit approximately 3.9 miles from the crash site. This was established by the location of a prominently scorched and melted strip of asphalt. The vehicle quickly reached a speed of between 250 and 300 miles per hour and continued at that speed, under full power, for an additional twenty to twenty-five seconds. The soon-to-be pilot experienced G-forces usually reserved for dog-fighting F-14 jocks under full afterburners.  The Chevy remained on the straight highway for approximately 2.6 miles (15 to 20 seconds) before the driver applied the brakes, completely melting them, blowing the tires, and leaving thick rubber marks on the road surface. The vehicle then became airborne for an additional 1.3 miles, impacted the cliff face at a height of 125 feet, and left a blackened crater three feet deep in the rock.  Most of the diver’s remains were not recovered; however, small fragments of bone, teeth, and hair were extracted from the crater. Fingernail and bone shards were removed from a piece of debris believed to be a portion of the steering wheel.

There are consequences to our actions.  If you ignore the consequences of strapping JATO’s on your back you will have a thrilling ride for about 20 seconds, but understand the rock wall is coming. Sin is a blast for a while but the consequences of such actions will impact your life and of those closest to you.

Understand, when anyone actively disobeys God’s convictions and disciplines, they are a ready target for all the devil’s traps and snares.  These are merely the consequences of living out and away from God’s will.  God’s children should not have to be dragged out of Sodom at the last moment from sin and disobedience.

We will look deeper into Lot’s life again tomorrow.

 

Blessings,

Pastor