Avoid the dark or Be Light to it

After reading this passage, I think my reaction afterwards was, “what in the world”. Sometimes there are these passages that seem so bizarre and messed up, it makes you wonder why they are in the Bible. You have to remember that the Bible needs to be read and seen in light as a whole. So this passage much be seen with the context and understanding of things that surround it. Also, the stories themselves must be known that the Bible isn’t always just good stories that make us feel warm and fuzzy. We get a very graphic picture of sinful men and also a very graphic picture of their destruction.

Read Genesis 19

This passage brings up a lot of questions and I am not looking to try to answer them all in this devotional. Please research or ask one of the leaders or someone that has studied this in depth to help you answer some of the questions you have.
When we read this, we may come to the conclusion that Lot’s ineffectiveness in Sodom warns believers against becoming involved in the world and things that are going on there or against living in unbelieving cities or going to schools that are secular. Someone might say: “Lot’s mistake was to go and live in such a wicked city in the first place! He should have stayed out in the country and kept
himself pure and unspotted.”

However, this doesn’t hold true with other characters we see in the Bible. Daniel and others are held up as models to us of living in the world and showing godly character to it. The trouble with that reasoning is that Daniel and others are held up to be models to us.

I think we can look at this story and see that it actually shows us that Lot’s failure was instead of his family being salt and light to mold the values of Sodom, Sodom influenced and molded the values of Lot’s family as we see at the end of this chapter.

Daniel and Joseph saw what they were called to do as jobs as calling from God. Their main and primary motive was to use their gifts in such a way that their God was honored and shown to be the true God. Both of these men let it be known that they believed and followed God and in the way they reflected godliness and good character, they were elevated to high positions. With God’s help they rose up in the ranks despite their stands (which often brought them into danger). But because they put their service to him above prosperity and advancement, then when they did advance
they were seen as men of great integrity and their words and deeds had an impact.
As we saw in Genesis 14, Lot’s main motive for moving to Sodom was for the benefit of his career and prosperity. Being an influence for God and the good of the city was secondary. Career advancement was the nonnegotiable. Thus he rose in the ranks, but ended up having no influence at all. The people of Sodom probably knew he worshipped some strange foreign God (cf. 19:9), but there was no unusual courage or character about him to grab their attention or respect.

We are not being warned against involvement with unbelieving culture and society but I’ve heard this metaphor before that we are against being a “thermometer” (an instrument controlled by the environment) rather than a “thermostat” (an instrument that effects its environment). Only if our priorities are put straight will we be able to be ‘salt and light’ in our families, schools, cities, and society. Take some time to think about whether you are more of a “thermometer” or “thermostat”. What are things God wants you to do in order to be a “thermostat”?