The Problem With Worship at the Altar of Wealth

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Thursday, March 14, 2019

So Abram left Egypt and traveled north into the Negev, along with his wife and Lot and all that they owned.  (Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold.)  From the Negev, they continued traveling by stages toward Bethel, and they pitched their tents between Bethel and Ai, where they had camped before.  This was the same place where Abram had built the altar, and there he worshiped the Lord again.  Lot, who was traveling with Abram, had also become very wealthy with flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, and many tents.  But the land could not support both Abram and Lot with all their flocks and herds living so close together.  So disputes broke out between the herdsmen of Abram and Lot.  (At that time Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land.)  After Lot had gone, the Lord said to Abram, “Look as far as you can see in every direction—north and south, east and west.  I am giving all this land, as far as you can see, to you and your descendants as a permanent possession.  And I will give you so many descendants that, like the dust of the earth, they cannot be counted!  Go and walk through the land in every direction, for I am giving it to you.”  So Abram moved his camp to Hebron and settled near the oak grove belonging to Mamre.  There he built another altar to the Lord.  Genesis 13:1-7, 14-18(NLT)

Scripture tells us both Abram and Lot became very wealthy.  However, the difference between the two that made all the difference in the world as to how their stories turned out, was this:

No matter how wealthy Abram became, it never prevented him from building an altar to worship the real God, while no matter how wealthy Lot became, it never was enough to keep him from wanting more.

Frankly, not everyone is hard-wired to handle wealth alongside faith; in those cases, one of them must take a back seat.  Abram was on a mission to serve God, while Lot was always moving towards what he saw as the next level in climbing the ladder of personal success.  The difference in the two families was contentment and focus.  Abram focused on pleasing God; Lot was always moving in the direction of Sodom.  In the end, when Lot was fully-entrenched in Sodom and God sent his angels to destroy the place, those angels just about had to pry Lot and his wife away from the city.

Corrie ten Boom wrote about that kind of attitude; she said:

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For You Today

The choices with wealth are always two:

1.     Worship the wealth and have your attention always drawn to it.

2.     See the wealth as a blessing, and have your attention focused on how God wants you to use it as a channel of blessing for others.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[i] Title Image:   via Wikimedia.com

[ii] Source not remembered, image via Wikimedia Commons

Living in Sodom

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Friday, September 9, 2016

But God also rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a righteous man who was sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him.  Yes, Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day.  So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment.  He is especially hard on those who follow their own twisted sexual desire, and who despise authority.  These people are proud and arrogant, daring even to scoff at supernatural beings without so much as trembling.  2 Peter 2:7-10^(NLT)

Abraham’s nephew Lot was a righteous man, meaning he loved and wanted to serve God with his whole heart.  Unfortunately, in the day-to-day decision-making of life, Lot made a poor choice to move into Sodom.  

Sodom was a wicked city, infamous for its sexual reputation.  No matter what the true and living God had said about how humans are to conduct themselves, in Sodom, it was sexual desire that was god.  Sodomy, and whatever other twisted sexual practices could be imagined, were the norm.  It is no wonder Peter describes Lot as being tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day. 

For Lot, as for modern day Christians, when you live in the midst of a majority that holds a different set of values and morals than you, it is more than problematic, it becomes torment. 

For the Christian who strives to be Godly, living in today’s world is living in Sodom.

So what is a Christian to do?

Well, one thing is true, we must make an intentional decision to not repeat Lot’s choice to move closer to the place where wickedness dwells.  The oldest illustration of this is a bride in a snow-white wedding gown working in a coal mine.  At the end of the day that bride is not going to look the same!

But what if the whole world has gone mad and Godliness has been forsaken to the degree that you’re in the middle of it no matter which way you turn?  What if Sodom has moved into your town?  This is not far-fetched, is it?  When the Supreme Court of this nation has decreed that Sodomy belongs in the same category as holy matrimony, evil has moved-in next door!

And in such times we must follow what the ancients did.  Noah preached righteousness in a Sodom-like environment…for a hundred years before the flood.

All the prophets stood with JHWH even when the governing rulers blessed Sodom.

And Peter, when he and the other apostles were confronted with the possibility of imprisonment and worse if he continued to preach “in the name of Jesus” told those who threatened them:

“We must obey God rather than any human authority.  

Acts 5:29^(NLT)

For You Today

It’s not easy to stand for righteousness in the midst of perverseness which threatens to overwhelm and change everything.  In fact, the more you’re tormented by even the thought of it, the more you can be assured you’re on the right track. 

Keep holding fast to Godliness; even in the most wicked culture (which God has destroyed time and again), the Lord does not forget or forsake the righteous.  But in your holding fast, remember that obeying God includes loving your neighbor; we lose our way when we get “ugly” in our preaching of righteousness.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

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NOTES

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[i] Title Image: See page for author, via Wikimedia Commons