Hey Brookies? What would you say if I told you I had a lot more to say this past weekend?
Scary, isn’t it?
But it’s true—and it needs to be said because the incredible grace and love our great God showed Lot is the real story—not Lot’s pathetically weak attempt at being a family man. In fact, God’s grace is often viewed as too good to be true! And that view leads to legalism.
But it’s also viewed by some as being something of a ‘sucker gift.’ Let me explain…
Plenty of people who manage to get over the spiritual hurdle of God’s unmerited favor then make a quick shift to, “God must be a sucker to throw this one out there. I’m taken it for all it’s worth!”
Hmm
The word sucker is interesting. Here’s where it comes from, “The word sucker, meaning ‘a person or thing that sucks’ has been around in print in England since the 14th century. (Nincompoop has been with us since the 17th century.) In the form souker, it also meant ‘a young mammal before it’s weaned’, and that may be the clue that could direct us to someone buying the Brooklyn Bridge. It wasn’t until the 19th century, though, that sucker took on the meaning, ‘a person easily deceived, cheated’.”
And that’s just what some take God for—a naïve, disconnected God passing out Get out of Hell Free cards to anyone who says a magic prayer. Once the prayer is invoked your reservation in heaven is made and you can live like the devil if you want to—because there’s nothing God can do (or will do) to break His promise.
The apostle Paul knew grace was so beautiful and unfathomable that some would be tempted to take it for granted like this. That’s why he said he following words in the first 2 verses of Romans 6 after talking about God’s beautiful gift of grace in Romans 5:
“1 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?”
Seems Paul anticipated the free lunch crowd would completely miss the point of God’s grace, so he inserted this warning to those who thought lip service alone or a mere mental ascent to some facts ‘about’ Jesus was enough to secure a free trip to heaven.
In short, the wooing the Holy Spirit does for the potential Christ follower is an appeal to the heart—unlike the military where it is a joining of a militia complete with rules of conduct, ranks, and a hierarchy of authority.
Real change begins and ends in the heart.
So what was up with Lot?
Well, he fell into a trap that still works rather nicely for Satan to this day—he trampled under foot the incredible grace of God. He took God for granted and basically spit upon his free gift of salvation.
So God let him go.
And boy did he go—straight downhill.
But God did not let go entirely. I believe I’ll see Lot in heaven one day and here’s why…
2 Peter 2:6-9 says, “6 if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless 8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— 9 if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.”
There are 2 amazing things revealed in this text.
1. Lot was counted as ‘righteous.’
2. Lot was saved from destruction.
He certainly didn’t deserve it, but don’t make the mistake of thinking you do because you haven’t sunk as low as he. Instead, thank the Lord for loving you anyway.
And live for Him.