Remember Lot’s Wife!

“Remember Lot’s wife!” Jesus exhorts us in Luke 17:32. We don’t know this woman’s name, but in Genesis 19 we can read her story. And she stands as a perpetual reminder of what not to do.

God had decided to completely destroy Sodom, the city where Lot and his family lived (see Ezekiel 16:49). God sent two angels, disguised as men, to take Lot’s family to safety. After three dire warnings, then being physically dragged out of town and warned not to look back, does Lot’s wife follow these instructions? Nope.

Apparently, there was something in Sodom that Lot’s wife was willing to risk her life for. We don’t know what it was, but she chose to gaze back at the city. And she was turned into a pillar of salt.

When Jesus says, “Remember Lot’s wife!” He is warning us about the state of our lives when He returns.

It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed . . . Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. (Luke 17:28-30,32-33, NASB)

When Jesus returns, we will be busy. We will be making a living. We will be satisfying our appetites and desires—eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building . . . There’s nothing wrong with any of those things; they’re a normal part of life—as long as they haven’t crowded out love for Jesus and His call to follow Him.

Our theme in Alliance Women this year is “Set Free, Live Free.” We have been set free. Like He freed Lot’s wife, God has graciously released us from the bondage of sin patterns and disordered loves that cause destruction in our lives. Yet to continue to live free, we must let go of the things that pull us away from following God with all our hearts; this really is a heart issue.

Is there anything we’re holding to above our love for Jesus, who longs to be our first love? Nothing can compare with Christ Jesus our Lord. Let’s “Remember Lot’s wife!”

 

Set Free – Live Free

God has such a sense of humor. Here we are locked up in a pandemic, and our Alliance Women’s theme for 2020-2021 is Set Free—Live Free. Some may not find that funny, but I smiled at the irony—How can we be set free and live free while in a pandemic?

Life has many confinements—places where our dreams are shattered and mental chains imprison us. When I was diagnosed with leukemia, life as I knew it stopped. As I adjusted to my new normal, God placed Psalm 139:16b in my mind: “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Peace filled me as I realized that this hard day, and every easy day, was ordained by God. “Ordained” is defined as “set apart for a purpose.” All our days, including pandemic days, are set apart for a purpose—to glorify God.

As I looked at cancer not as an obstacle but as an opportunity, God set me free by opening doors for me to minister to cancer patients and their families—people I never would have met had I not stepped into a cancer center.

The apostle Paul had experience with the loss of freedom. In Acts 16 he and Silas were stripped, beaten, and thrown into prison—their feet fastened in stocks. Did Paul play the victim, responding in anger toward God or the prison guards? No. Acts 16:25 says, “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.”

Picture it: Paul and Silas were singing and the other prisoners were listening. At midnight. In prison. The result? God’s powerful presence was made known. Suddenly, there was a violent earthquake, the prison doors flew open, chains came loose, and the jailer fell trembling before Paul and Silas and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (see Acts 16:26–30). Wow! Talk about being set free!

In these days of pandemic, pain, confusion, and confinement, let us seek opportunities to minister to those around us. May we be joyful intercessors and worshippers, instead of adding our voices to the discordant din of complainers on social media. May God use us to set prisoners free in our homes, neighborhoods, workplaces, and where we play and worship. Let us shine Jesus’ light on a dark world, so those still captive will fall on their knees and ask, “What must I do to be saved?”