Daily Devotional
Word of the Day
Remember Lot's Wife
Pastor Scott
Monday, August 16, 2004
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"Remember Lot's wife."
(Luke 17:32)
"As it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." This is the day we are living in. We are preparing our hearts for the coming of the Lord, looking up because our redemption is drawing nigh. Every man that has this hope purifies himself even as He is pure. What is the spirit of the age that's trying to oppose us and hold us down when God is preparing to take us up?
"In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house..." We are all looking for some type of peace and rest in our stuff. We accumulate stuff. Some of us are packrats. Don't put too much value on your stuff. "And he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back [for his stuff]." One of the great admonitions in all of the Scripture says, "Remember Lot's wife." Lot's wife was an earth-dweller and had to look back because she was bound by her stuff. It's obvious where her treasure was. Where is your heart? Where your treasure is, that's where your heart is. Are you more excited about the acquisition of new stuff than you are about the imminent return of the Lord?
"Remember Lot's wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life [his stuff, to feed his own selfness] shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life [die to self, seek the kingdom first] shall preserve it." Though we know the story of Lot's wife, we forget so many times that it was about stuff. Lot happened to get there because his natural eye was attracted to the abundance. It was an oasis--prime real estate. It was the wise and natural response, but he was trusting in the natural, not in God. Abraham made a different choice. He said, "I'll take God. I'll trust the Lord. You take whatever you want. I'll take the leftovers with God." Do you really believe today? Many of us would answer that we believe that the presence of God is better. But let's take it a step further. Do you really believe that God wants to bless you? You don't have to try to acquire things in your own strength. Do not put the value on it that the world does, but let God put the value on it. What makes it valuable is that God supplied it, because the blessings of the Lord make rich and add no sorrow. You can have all kinds of stuff and be sorrowful because you got it in your own strength and natural means. Your motivation was lust and covetousness. There's no one to boast in but yourself, though you make worthless statements like, "The Lord has blessed me." God didn't bless you; you took it yourself. You lusted, coveted and finally acquired; then you want to justify it by saying God gave it to you. That's where natural man is.
How do we identify covetousness and acquiring by our own strength for self from the blessings of the Lord that make rich? There is nothing wrong with stuff. But how did you get it? Do you need it? What value do you place upon it? Many of us think covetousness has to do with cost. Covetousness has to do with what we are trying to accomplish in self-worth and self-gratification. It is not the dollar tag alone; it is an attitude of the heart.