Do not look back

‘Remember Lot’s wife!’ Luke 17:32 NIV

When the Sunday school teacher told her class, ‘Lot’s wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt,’ one child responded, ‘That is nothin’! My mum was driving home yesterday, and she looked back and turned into a telephone pole!’ Lot’s wife only appears briefly in Scripture, so why did Jesus tell us to remember her? Two reasons: (1) She invested her life in something that had no future. John writes, ‘This world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.’ (1 John 2:17 NLT) God tried to get Lot’s wife out of Sodom, but when she thought of what she was leaving, she looked back and turned into a lifeless monument. When God says it is time to move, do not hesitate! Do not become like those who once walked with Him, witnessed on the job, stood out as shining lights in their communities, but now have turned cold and unresponsive. (2) Your decisions have consequences. If Lot’s wife had kept moving forward she’d have been there to protect her daughters when they got to the cave. Instead they became involved in incest. Before you lose your children, poison your marriage, and tear up your life by refusing to break with your past, ‘remember Lot’s wife.’ She did not make it to safety, but she did make it into Scripture long enough to warn us about three things: (a) complacency (b) involvement with the wrong things () a divided heart!