Lot and the Prodigal Son had this in common: They both gleefully moved to places that ultimately brought them misery and loss – it almost cost them everything.
However, as much as Lot’s soul was tormented by the moral degradation of Sodom and Gomorrah (2 Peter 2:8), the torment was obviously not enough to make him move away before it was too late. The infamy of Sodom and Gomorrah was added to by Lot’s wife becoming a salt stature and his daughters’ calculated incest.
Lot made two fatal mistakes. The first was moving to Sodom and Gomorrah, and the second, staying there.
When parents invest their family’s future in a community, they are inviting that community to help them mould the lives of their loved ones. Admittedly, some have the resources to relocate to ideal places, but others must make the best of what they have. Lot could have moved!
The day that God rained down fire and sulphur upon Sodom and Gomorrah, He rained down judgement upon Lot’s family. If not for the angels of God dragging Lot’s family out, they would have perished there too. Sodom and Gomorrah were “life” to them, but unless they were willing to lose it, they would have perished in its death.
Tragically, Lot’s wife looked back to her “life” and was destroyed with it.
Jesus would later use Lot and his wife as illustrations of what would happen to those not ready for the coming of the Son of Man. “Remember Lot’s wife,” he said. “Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it” (Luke 17: 32-33).
Everyday is a day of life and death for the believer in Christ. That is why Jesus tells us that we must take up our cross daily and follow him (Luke 9:23). Then we can say with Paul:
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20).
John Staiger