1 John 2:15 “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.”

It’s more than the motto of Nike, it’s God’s message to us in Genesis chapter 19. When God talks to us, we’re supposed to respond… NOW!

I just finished reading Genesis 19 and my heart is heavy. I see so many similarities between the lifestyle of Sodom and Gomorrah and that of the world today. I even see some resemblance of Lot’s heart and mine. Lot professes to be a Christian and yet he is so absorbed in the things of the world that he blends right in. In Lot’s case, he was ineffective in winning people over for Christ because he was perceived by the people as, “one of the boys.” I’m quite sure one of the lessons God has for me in this is that he doesn’t call me (Christians) to ‘blend in.’

So the angels of the Lord who visited Lot warned him that he must flee from the city and not look back. He hesitated. Let me quote that out of the bible, verse 16 says, “When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them.” How many times to we see that God wants us to respond to Him and we procrastinate? I have my hand raised right now. I admit that I do. Perhaps partial disobedience on my part, but sometimes it simply does take God to grab me and nudge me to get moving. I get comfortable where I’m at. I’m sure Lot and his family were comfortable too.

What I hear ringing in my ears as I write to you in reflection of this story is the song I learned as a kid, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”  I guess my learning’s of today are to trust God, don’t hesitate to do it, don’t look back to what I am running from, and leave the outcomes up to God.

My prayer for my readers, followers, and friends is that we may stand united in obedience to God, believe God, and trust God in all over our circumstances.