What Matters Most

10.04.11

Luke 17.32 32 Remember Lot’s wife! NIV

If there was ever a validation of the Old Testament this is it: Jesus told them to remember Lot’s wife. Lot’s wife had a problem: she didn’t see anything wrong with Sodom; she loved her culture and her place in her culture. She had everything she wanted. But her problem seemed to be she had no place in her life for God; her culture gave her everything she felt she needed.

Culture can be a funny thing: it can be a broad brush-stroke encompassing all or the majority in life or it can be simply customs found in indigenous people. Culture is what one makes it. A missionary couple I know went to serve God in Eastern Europe with their three boys. After a couple years they came home, not because they failed, but because of their boy’s exposure to the culture of the country where they were: that particular culture had no qualms at all about pornography. The missionaries knew the culture was very bad for their boys.

Lot’s wife seemed to be oblivious to the culture of Sodom, she seemed to like it. And on the day the city was destroyed she was too. But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. (Genesis 19.26 NIV) Lot’s wife couldn’t take her eyes, and her heart, off of the culture.

In Ezekiel 16 is described what the culture of Sodom really was. “‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. (Ezekiel 16.49-50 NIV) That’s what Lot’s wife was attracted to. So not only did the Lord Jesus validate the Old Testament He warned His followers: Remember Lot’s wife! She was caught up in her culture and locked out of the Kingdom when it really mattered most.

I must be careful that I keep a close eye on how attached I may be to my culture. I must be careful that my attraction to the things around me, don’t occlude my perspective of what matters most. The pull of culture is sneaky; my preferences play a huge part in how I respond to it. Jesus warns me: Remember Lot’s wife! She perished because all she could see was the here and now.

I get caught up in life – my comings and goings, my job, my leisure. I can’t afford to allow these things to take precedence over the Kingdom of God. I can’t allow these things to be the focus of my prayer life. I can’t let true life pass me by because present life was too big; too all-consuming.

Today, I am going off to another town to work. I can’t let my work there make me forget about God and His purposes in that town. I must give thought to the truth that Lot’s wife missed the boat because she was in love with the pier.