Remember Lot's Wife!

"Are you looking longingly at sin while trying to move forward with God? You can't make progress with God as long as you are holding on to pieces of your past/ old life. "No one can serve two masters." Matt. 6:24

I've had this blog draft saved for quite a while because I was really convicted by what this quote has to say. After all, it wholeheartedly applies to me.

I have been longingly looking back at the past while trying to also move forward in what God is calling me to do and I've become stuck.

I am reading a book called Don't Look Back by Christine Caine and it's about Lot's wife. For those of you who may not be familiar with the story of Lot, he is Abraham's nephew and when they left their homeland because God was calling Abraham to a new life, Lot settled in the land of Sodom and Gomorrah. This land was filled with evil individuals who were not following God. To read more about Lot, read Genesis chapters 11-14 and 19.

God decided he'd destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of the horrendous sins that they were committing. Abraham pleaded with God to spear the cities asking if God found just 10 righteous men that He spear the city where Lot was living. God agreed, however, we're all familiar with how this story turns out. Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed by sulfur and fire.

It's kinda of crazy to imagine that God couldn't find just 10 righteous people within these cities. That's how far they had turned away from God. It makes me wonder where America is headed, but that is a post for a different time. I want to focus our attention back on Lot's wife and what she did.

When the angels of God came to rescue Lot and his family, while they were fleeing the city, Lot's wife looked back, longingly at her home and was turned into a pillar of salt (Genesis 19: 24-26). Looking back on life in and of itself isn't wrong, it's how we look back is where we can run into trouble.

When we look back on life to reflect on what's happened and to learn from our mistakes so that we don't make them again is good. However, we do have to be careful not to get caught up in living in the identity of our mistakes. We learn and move forward.

How Lot's wife looked back on Sodom was in regret. The definition of longingly is, "with a yearning desire". Lot's wife looked back with a desire for the old life that God was calling her to leave behind and because of her actions of identifying more with the sinful people of Sodom than with God, she was punished.

While I am grateful God hasn't turned me into a pillar of salt for still longingly looking back at a sinful part of my life, I sometimes wonder if God acted with the justice He did in the Old Testament how that might change things (Again, a different post for another time).

My point is, are we going to be like Lot's wife, longingly looking back at our sinful lives when God is calling us to a better and more holy life?

I know it's not easy, it might mean saying goodbye to lifelong friends, setting boundaries with loved ones, changing your lifestyle, being more cautious about what you watch and consume, going no contact, or deleting and blocking that number.

For myself, I've had to have no contact with my ex. While we were trying to make things work by being friends, it wasn't going anywhere (plus being "friends" with your ex isn't something I'd suggest, no matter what. There's a reason that relationship ended and as hard as it might be, we need to let it go). We were constantly engaging in patterns and behaviors that were damaging to us both, causing problems more than anything else.

I didn't want to let that go, I still don't but in every interaction I kept feeling this conviction in my heart, that I was trying to serve two masters and I was more afraid that I'd end up serving the master that wasn't Christ. I've been down that road with my abortion, and I don't ever want to get caught in that again.

"Remember Lot's wife!"

Luke 17:32

My friends, when we find ourselves in a situation where we are being pulled in two directions, follow where the Lord is leading you and not the other one. I promise you, it doesn't end well when we're following something or someone other than Christ.

It's hard to move forward when you're constantly looking back!

Quite literally too, at some point in our life, we've been walking forward while looking back, and in the few seconds we might have turned our head, when we face forward again, we've walked in a direction we didn't want to go.

It really is hard to move forward when we're not focused on what's in front of us.

My encouragement to you is this, don't be like Lot's wife, don't look longingly back at the sin that God is calling you out of. No matter how comfortable it might have been, sin is destructive and when we let it into our lives, satan can begin to build strongholds that are hard to destroy.

Together, we can take this journey, learning to let go of our pasts, and allowing yourself time to grieve what was but not become stuck in it. God has greater plans and brighter future for you than you can imagine!

Remember Lot's Wife!