Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Deciding Our Loyalties

Remember Lot’s wife!” (Luke 17:32).

The Pharisees had asked Jesus about the coming of the kingdom. Jesus had told them that the kingdom’s first appearance was without fanfare. In fact, the King was in their midst (Luke 17:20–21). Jesus then predicted a sudden and glorious coming of the kingdom at His return.

Jesus used the analogy of the Flood. He said when He returned, people would be going about their daily business, just as in the days of Noah. Suddenly, the Flood destroyed them all. Then Jesus gave another analogy: “It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all” (vv. 28–29).

Jesus warned them that, when that time of crisis drew near, they were not to leave their rooftops to get any valuables remaining inside the house. Then Jesus told them to remember Lot’s wife. What was Jesus’ point? He tells us in verse 33: “Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” The warning is to those who are so tied to this world that their commitment to Christ is not settled. The time to settle our loyalties is now, not at a moment of crisis.

If any family had every possibility of escaping their calamity, it was Lot’s (Genesis 19). They had been warned to flee by miracle-working angels, so while everyone else was going about their business, Lot and his family left Sodom. They were told not to look back. But when they were outside the city, Lot’s wife hesitated. She turned her face back toward the city and was turned into a pillar of salt. Jesus was telling us not to allow love for worldly things to keep us from making and keeping our commitment to Him.

Lot had made the mistake of “pitching his tent toward Sodom” after leaving Abraham. Over the years, his family was seduced by the pleasures of the secular city. This is a grave danger facing Christians today. Read Genesis 13 and 19 and consider what message this story has for you today.