2 Peter 2:6-8 says Lot was vexed constantly by the things he saw and heard every day. It seems that same predicament is what many believers today face. I daresay that there are 4 kinds of individuals who lived in those days. The first I would mention are those who have sold themselves to depravity with no sense of restrain. To this group belong the people of Sodom & Gomorrah. They were so vile (and spiritually dead) that the men wanted to sleep with angels even when they were offered young girls to quench their sexual lust.
Those in the second set are Lot's children and his wife. His two daughters, who if they were living in our times, would be children born into Christian homes, attending the church youth church, etc had boyfriends who were unbelievers! I have heard of christians who are engaged to unbelievers and they don't see anything fundamentally wrong with it! Lot's daughters represent Christians who dine with the devil all week and "date" Jesus on Sundays.
The third category of people are like Lot's wife. Externally Lot's wife was the ideal believer. She stayed away from things publicly recognized as ungodly and did a good work at keeping up appearances. She went to church regularly and never missed midweek fellowship. She read her bible and prayed everyday and was an active person in the church she belonged to. Everyone knew her as Lot, the righteous man's wife. But then her heart was not longing for God but the good things of Sodom. It became evident when they were rushed out of the city by the angels and given a clear instruction not to look back into Sodom. The truth is that many believers are like this today. We must be careful and check our hearts. Are we not in love with the world? Do we have a form of godliness that is completely void of any living active relationship with God?
Then there was Lot. Lot was obviously tired of the state of the place he lived in. Lot was influential and powerful. This is evidenced in the fact that the angels met him at the gate of the city. In those days only the decision makers of a city sat perpetually at the gate/entrance of a city. Lot was also wealthy. He had material wealth at his disposal alongside servants too. Above all Lot was a righteous/holy man. But in the midst of all this, Lot suffered in silence. His influence and affluence did not translate to any impact on the environment he lived in. It was so bad that when God wanted someone to intercede for the city, He didn't even ask Lot, who was meant to be God's emissary in the place. Isn't this the same situation believers find themselves today? With all our big churches and large offerings, how much influence have we been able to exert in the political or even media environment. Just like Lot, most of us believers, on the individual level keep mute. Gradually these immoralities have crept into our so-called guarded spaces. Now we are bombarded, on our own TVs, with the lewd lyrics and soft porn in the name of music videos and all most of us can say is "This is not good oh. When I was your age, we never used to have things like this shown on national television."
The truth is Lot was meant to be responsible for Sodom and Gomorrah. He was so weakened by HIS SILENCE and the consistent onslaught of immorality that he couldn't even raise his influence to impact 10 people in the whole of Sodom and Gomorrah! And that was why God destroyed the twin cities.
The final type of believer in those days is typified by Abraham. (Yes I know I mentioned 4 earlier. Just add him to the list and make it five ok?). I'll be discussing the Abrahamic kind of believer in my next post. Right now, I want to get under some warm sheets. It's really cold. Ta ta!
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