WordLive - Year OneSample

Prepare: Today we are going to read a horrifying story. Let’s begin by dwelling a while on ‘whatever is true … noble … right … pure … lovely … admirable’ (Philippians 4:8). What a mess! Lot had risen to a position of prestige in his adopted city, as seen by the fact he was found sitting at the gateway. The angels arrived to ascertain whether there were enough righteous inhabitants to hold off God’s destruction of the whole place, and the men of the town didn’t help the cause. Lot took his role as host to the shocking extreme of placing his guests’ safety over that of his own daughters, and the night was only rescued when the angels intervened. What a mess! In the nick of time Lot was graciously given enough warning to get himself and his family out of harm’s way (vs 12,13). He had been walking a fine line between maintaining integrity and assuming the values of his context, and he had probably been rescued in the nick of time. How do you feel you have adapted to local culture? How do the values and practices of your culture sit with you? Respond: Ask God to show you the ways in which you are prone to think and act a little too much like a local, whether it is how you treat the environment, the hold that materialism has over you or your tendency to gossip. Ask for forgiveness and help to be ‘in the world but not of it’. http://www.wordlive.org/Session/Classic/2012-04-13