Remember Lot's Wife

Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot's wife.  (Luke 17:28-32)

Remember Lot's wife who turned back! And it cost her. 

We all remember Sodom don’t we? It was famous for its sexual debauchery - in particular, sodomy (homosexuality). What is striking is that sodomy is not even mentioned in the text above as Jesus reapplies the story of Sodom and Gomorrah to His disciples. All that is mentioned here is eating and drinking, buying and selling, planning and building. In other words: LIFE! 

Remember Lot's wife. She didn’t turn back because she missed the debauchery. She turned back because she was leaving behind her life!

So Jesus can say in the very next verse: "Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it." (Luke 17:33)

Sodom is known for its sin. But we often overlook the fact that it was a big city - a metropolis that was booming with life. Good food. Stable economy. Nice clothes. Big houses. 

Lot’s wife turned back for that, not the sin.

What can we learn from this? What can we take home as we remember Lot's wife?

The real threat to godliness isn't sin. It's a God-less life.

Sin is merely the fruit of a heart that has replaced God with the things of this life.

God wasn’t in there eating. God wasn't in their drinking. God wasn’t in their buying. God wasn’t in their selling and He was not in their building. It was all worldly. Their daily lives were filled with God-less-ness. Sodomy was merely a fruit of a God-less lifestyle.

Let's not get so caught up in eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building, shopping, studying, working, etc... that we miss out on God.