Christian Living
Remember Lot's Wife
Scripture: Genesis 19: 24-26, Luke 17:32
“Remember Lot’s wife”.
The sermon today is a three part lesson:
- Letting Go
- Change
- Forgiveness
Letting Go
Have you ever wanted to seek revenge against someone who has done you wrong? You say things like, “I’m going to get you back” or “I can’t wait to see what happens to you”. Sometimes we Christians say, “You will reap what you sow, just you wait and see”. You began to plan and scheme how you are going to get them back. Remember, the Bible says, “For the Lord has a day of vengeance” (Isaiah 34:8 KJV) The Bible also says, “God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day”. (Psalm 7:11 KJV)
There are some things in life we are not meant to see. Main reason, we wouldn't be able to handle it. The Lord God rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from heaven. The mere sight of someone being crushed by a large fiery stone, and be consumed by fire with no way of escape, would traumatize the average person. This was going to be so bad, God didn't want anyone to see it and live. This judgment was designed for the people in those two cities. Not only did they see it, they also suffered the consequences of their actions and died. This was not something anyone out side these cities should have seen. Lot was told to tell everyone, "don't look back, and Keep moving forward". But Lot's wife allowed her curiosity to get the best of her. She disobeyed, and it killed her. She turned into a pillar of salt.
Keep this thought in mind. If God wanted us to be constantly looking back, He would have given us eyes in the back of our heads. When God gets you out of a Sodom & Gomorrah type (BAD) situation, Keep Moving Forward, follow His lead and don't look back. There's nothing back there for you to see anyway. And besides, what He's going to be doing with those left behind, are not for your eyes to see. You don't need to see your enemies suffer. Enemies are not walls they are doors to your next season. Judgment is not for the faint of heart. Let God Handle It. Let go, let God! You go on and live the life of abundance you were promised. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11NIV)
Change
Change is hard because people overestimate the value of what they have and under estimate the value of what they may gain by giving that up. Sometimes God’s blessings are not in what He gives, but in what He takes away. Stop trying to pick up what God told you to put down. God will never leave you empty. He will replace everything you lost. If he asks you to put something down, it’s because He wants you to pick up something greater.
There comes a time in your life, when you walk away from all the drama and the people who create it. You focus on the good and you forget the bad.
"Sometimes you have to forget what’s gone, appreciate
What still remains, and look forward to what’s coming next."
Will Smith
The 3C’s of life: Choice, Chance, and Change – You must make a choice to take a chance or your life will never change.
When you realize you are a child of God made in His image and likeness. You will begin to see yourself as God sees you. You don’t live in fear of the future because of your past. Instead you understand that your life experiences are merely lessons meant to bring you closer to God’s will. To bring you closer to understanding God’s unconditional love.
The Christian life is a process in which we learn complete dependence on God. God calls us to a wonderful process of learning to know Him and with the assurance that it will lead to productive service in His name and for His honor.
Jesus specializes in restoration. God has a habit of picking up nobodies and making them somebodies. The Canvas of our lives is in the skilled hands of our Lord, who knows who and what He designed us to be. No matter how sin-damaged and dirty we may be, there is hope for renewal and restoration. The Master Artist is alive and at work within us. Give a person a reason to be saved by looking at your life.
Forgiveness
To error is human, to forgive is divine. We must rely on God to have the ultimate say about evildoers. We may not like what was done, what we see or what we hear from others, but remember this: God is in control. Trust Him to do what is right. And don’t fret. Don’t despair over evil; God will have the last word.
Forgiveness is not for the person who hurt you or done you wrong. Forgiveness is so that you can put closure to the situation and more on. It is only from God that we can receive the grace of forgiveness when we have been hurt or done wrong. And only in Him do we find the wisdom to make better choices.
To forgive someone is to display reverence.
Forgiveness is not saying the one who hurt you
was right. Forgiveness is stating that God is fair
and will do what is right.
--MAX LUCADO, WHEN GOD WHISPERS YOUR NAME
C. S. Lewis once said, “To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” For those of us who follow Jesus this is a challenging statement. In theory, we agree with it because we know what the Bible teaches: Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you (Ephesians 4:32). In reality, forgiveness is perhaps the hardest lesson in the Christian life to learn.
One of the more obvious differences between Jesus and the average person is that Jesus didn’t take things personally, thank God. By contrast our tendency is to take everything personally. We take rejection personally. We take criticism personally. Because of sin, we all suffer from self-centered thinking. Our nature is to personalize everything. The truth is what people say and do is a reflection of them, not us. This is something Jesus fully grasped. Jesus understood, in the deepest possible way, that people’s actions merely reflected who they were, not who he was. That’s why Jesus didn’t take what they did to him personally.
A Reflection of the Doer
Christ understood that what someone dose is a reflection of the doer, not the receiver. While here on earth, people spat on Him, abandoned Him, betrayed Him, denied Him, mocked Him, tortured Him and ultimately killed Him. In short, Jesus knows all about what it means to be wronged and treated unjustly. But from the cross while He was hanging there in pain waiting to die Jesus said, “Father forgive them for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34). We ask in wonder and amazement how was He able to pray that? Jesus was able to ask God to forgive them because they were revealing their own moral bankruptcy and lack of character, their own shot comings. He knew that what they did to Him was a reflection of their own selves, not Him. Therefore, it wasn’t personal. Suppose Christ forgave only those who had treated Him well; would you be forgiven today?
In learning to forgive, we must first need to be reminded that since God made us in His image, we were all created to experience anger and hurt. Our Father in heaven has never sinned, yet He gets angry and knows what it feels like to be rejected. It is not a sin to be angry. It is not a sin to feel hurt. Jesus experienced these same emotions and He supports us when we grieve.
Second, we need to come to terms with the fact that we can’t be truly loving and forgiving toward others if we assume that the actions of other people are attacks on us. The evil actions of others demonstrate that they are living in horrible spiritual darkness and have no awareness of the truth. When people act out of selfishness, their actions will inevitably be hurtful and destructive. Yet those who are on the receiving end of their actions must constantly be reminded that it isn’t truly personal. Knowing this frees us to forgive.
It’s a Two-Way Street
Finally, we need to realize that whatever wrong has been done to us, we have done something similar to someone else. Selfishly, we want forgiveness to be a one-way street. We want God to let us off the hook for what we’ve done, but we aren’t that excited about letting others off the hook for what they have done to us. The truth is our sins put Jesus on the cross. When we grasp what our sins cost Jesus, we will be much more forgiving of the wrongs that others have done to us. Forgiving others is an essential element of living a mature, Christ-like life. As you begin or continue through your Christian journey in life, remember it’s time to let the people who have wronged you off the hook.
“Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Philippians 4:8 NIV).
Focus on the good around you. You’ll notice your perspective and thoughts will change your life for the better.
Amen.
Written by: Jerri Jones
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