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Too Good of a Citizen
Too Good of a Citizen
Godly courage and cultural contamination can exist within the same person. And both qualities can appear back to back as if in some seemingly simultaneous, “right” behavior.
Lot’s putting himself in harm’s way, standing up to the crowd, both literally and verbally, is commendable and courageous. “Don’t do this evil” (Genesis 19:7) is plain and forceful.
Under the cultural “law” of hospitality, which demanded the protection of guests under his roof (Genesis 19:8), Lot did the unthinkable. His offering to put his daughters in danger deserves the most severe condemnation (Genesis 19:8)!
God’s messengers would not allow such atrocity and physically pull Lot back into his house, protecting him and his daughters from the crowd – AND FROM LOT (Genesis 19:10).
Here’s where I can’t make application for you, but will ask you to open your tender hearts:
1. Have we unknowingly put our children in harm’s way within American culture and their subcultures?
2. Have we unknowingly allowed our culture to have a greater impact on family decisions than we realize?
3. Have we unknowingly downgraded our family’s spiritual safety by being good Americans?
4. Have we unknowingly taken a great, human, cultural American concept and taken it beyond God’s greater culture?
How did this all start? Notice three passages:
• “POLITICAL” POSITION – “The two angels entered Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in Sodom’s gateway…. (CSB’17 Genesis 19:1). This is where leaders made themselves available. Lot was a “leader”.
• PERSONAL AFFILIATION – “He said, “Don’t do this evil, my BROTHERS.” (CSB’17 Genesis 19:7). I capitalized “brorhers” to show Lot’s affinity for them. Lot was one of them.
• PERCEIVED PERSPECTIVES – ““Get out of the way!” they said, adding, “This one came here as an alien, but he’s acting like a judge!…. (CSB’17 Genesis 19:9). Lot tried to fit in and from his perspective probably did some good. Their perspective shows he was more tolerated than accepted. Lot was an outsider.
Ultimately, Lot’s problem was in behaving too much like a good citizen of Sodom! Are we too Americanized and don’t see it? Have we put our own children in spiritual harm’s way? Is God reaching out through His messengers to bring us safely under the protection of His roof? Are we like Lot who was simultaneously spiritually courageous and culturally foolish?
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