Lot is the high priest of a Christianity gone mad. Lot’s motivation of life surged from Self. His name means “a wrapper:” a moral chameleon who took on the proportions of whatever he was around. Three times we are told that “Lot went with Abram” -Genesis12:4; 13:1,5. He was with him but wasn’t like him. Abraham walked with God; Lot walked with Abraham. An immense difference existed between the two.
The God of Glory appeared to Abraham [Acts 7:2]. No such revelation attended Lot except that of angels whom he contradicted and resisted [Genesis 19:18]. Righteous Lot [2 Peter 2:7,8] did not walk with God; he at first walked with Abraham, then by himself. In the end he walked with Sodomites.
Lot was willing to fight his brother [Genesis 13:7,8], but was powerless against the enemy [Genesis 14:12]. Flocks and herds were counted a greater prize than the love of the brethren. The governing impulse of his life was covetousness [Genesis 13:10]. And like Lot, worldly-minded fools who have no altar also roam on endless quests for greener pastures of self-gain [Genesis 13:10,11].
Worldliness begins in the heart. Its tap root is Self: Self-gain, self-satisfaction, self-advancement, self-esteem, self-improvement, self-sufficiency, self-congratulation, self-enrichment. Lot’s desire to secure the “best” for Self [Genesis 13:10,11] led to moving towards corrupt companions [Genesis 13:12].
Though the victory which overcomes the world is our faith [1 John 5:4], Lot is a sobering testimony to the converse; Worldliness overcomes our faith. “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” -1 John 2:15; and this is what Lot loved. Even after being rescued, Lot returned to Sodom’s pigsty.
Lot loved being a man of influence and prominence in Sodom: to sit in the gate as her judge [Genesis 19:1]. But he was not godly. His conscience was defiled; it tormented him day after day [2 Peter 2:7,8]. Sodom was in Lot long before Lot was in Sodom. He longed after affluence and the leisure it affords [Genesis 13:10]. The love of self, the love of money, and pleasure was what Sodom was made of. It is also what characterizes Lot and the Christianity gone mad of which he is the head [2 Timothy 3:1-5].
We have no testimony to the world when the principles and motives of our hearts are no different than those of the world itself. Lot had no testimony; he was despised as a hypocrite by its residents [Genesis 19:9]. His announcement of Sodom’s doom was received as an amusing charade by his own family [Genesis 19:14]. He had no testimony of obedience to the angels who had to compel him to flee the condemned jewel of his heart [Genesis 19:16]. And the testimony that he left for the people of God was one of enmity against the Lord: Moab and Ammon [Genesis 19:36-38]. Worldliness is no small thing.
The verse which capsulated his life proceeded from his own lips: “Oh, no, my lords!” –Genesis 19:18. Hesitating, he substituted his own perspective for what was clearly commanded, and appealed to grace as the basis to do so [Genesis 19:16,19,20]. We can imagine what his epitaph read: “Lot of Zoar.”
Zoar means small [Genesis 19:22]. It is what he had chosen all through his life. His faith was small, as was his consecration. He had little testimony to the world and little influence for good on his own family. Small was Lot’s wisdom and minute was his reward. He had little power against the enemy and scarcely any blessing to God’s people. Even less did he know the evil sway Sodom had upon his heart.
The Lord says that true religion is “to keep oneself unspotted from the world” –James 1:27. Yet in a Christianity gone mad, the stain of the world has colored the very fabric of our soul though we don external robes of righteousness to hide our uncleanness. Our happily superficial religion testifies to our Worldliness. We nod our heads in concern over the heinous crimes of our day while never judging their root causes in our own hearts. We are like Lot; setting one’s mind upon earthly things is the essence of Worldliness. His own alternative to scriptural obedience was considered acceptable by him. Worldliness is not defined by a catalog of do’s and don’ts; it is a matter of the inner sanctum of the heart, an orientation.
“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world” -1 John 2:16. Worldliness is being conformed to its ideals and viewpoint rather than being “transformed by the renewing of your mind” –Romans 12:2. To befriend the world renders one an enemy of God [James 4:4]. Flee Worldliness before the fire falls.