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Today we finish off chapter 19 by asking the question. How far it is possible for believers to depart from God's will when he keeps making worldly decisions? By the end chapter 19 Lot has lost his son in laws and he has ended living with his daughters in a cave who then think the only way now to continue the family line is through an incestuous relationship with their father. So pretty far then. As a result of his worldly drives, Lot lost his children and his sons in law in the destruction of Sodom, he lost his wife, and now he has lost his two daughters spiritually. He was able to take his daughters out of Sodom, but he was not able to take Sodom out of his daughters. Even after he escapes, it all gets tangled into an incestuous web. It’s an echo and a reminder at one and the same time of how terrible the things going on in Sodom and Gomorrah were. Because even after escaping from it, the wickedness of it remained within his family.

 The danger of living in the world is potentially losing your life, but not just your physical life, but your business life, your family life, your social life, your spiritual life, and maybe even your eternal life. The story of Lot and his family provide a sobering reminder that all of our decisions have eternal significance. That's a very sobering thought, even the decision as to where you live can be hugely important. They chose the wrong place to live, somewhere where there was no Godly influence and that was their downfall. Lot clearly knew the Lord, in fact he was once described as a righteous man according to Peter but by being isolated from other people that knew the Lord they city heavily influenced him and his family. This tells me our moral environment significantly influences our lives and for this and many other reasons the New Testament constantly implores believers to fellowship with those who are like-minded faith. Where we choose to pitch our spiritual tent, or even where we live or who we go into business with are hugely important.

Not a curse/freewill (expand)

A while ago I read of an example in the  devotional book, Our Daily Bread, about a man who lived alone with his three sons. One day a strange dog came to their house the dog’s tail had three white tuffs of hairs in it. The man and his sons took it in

A few weeks later an advertisement appeared in the local paper asking for the return of the dog which was described as being easily identified by the three white tufts of hairs. The children loved the dog and the man said in the presence of his sons he would pluck out the white hairs and remove them from his tail. The real owner heard about where the dog was staying and came over to claim his pet. The dog seemed to recognise the owner, but the man said didn't you say the dog had three tufts of white hairs in its tail. The answer of course was yes and since the hairs were missing, the man was unable to claim their dog.

The man later said according to this article we kept the dog, but I lost my three boys for Christ that day. As he explained years later the sons no longer had any confidence in what he said or what he preached because of what he practised. Therefore, don’t every underestimate the effect of your spiritual discission’s not only on your life but the effect it also might have on your family and descendants.