"Remember Lot's wife! Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it." Luke 17:32-33
This statement from Jesus above has always made me somewhat uneasy. It has perplexed me - confounded me I guess.
To begin, Jesus makes a reference to a lady from thousands of years before, and she doesn't even have a first name (ok, I'm sure she did, but all we get is "Lot's wife"). I guess we could just call her Mrs. Lot. Mr. Lot, at least, has some name recognition in the Bible. He was a relative of Abraham, and he had received some land to inhabit. This was a land called Sodom and Gomorrah. As you may remember from the Biblical account in Genesis 19, there was all manner of filth and sin going on in Sodom and Gomorrah. You name it, and it was probably going on. As a result, God was going to judge the place and He was going to do so through some of his angels. These angels warned Lot to get he and his family out of town before the fireworks, and simply told them "Don't look back."
As you know, Lot's wife didn't listen and she looked back as they were fleeing the city. So she turned into a pillar of salt (let me pause here to note that a woman turning into salt is not an everyday occurrence. My best guess is that she turned into salt because she stopped, turned around and gazed at the destruction of the city so long that the burning sulfur raining down on the city got to her as well). Basically, it seemed that she was trying to keep her way of life, and her heart and eyes were a dead giveaway of that fact.
So, Jesus says to his followers, "Remember Lot's wife." Why? Well, he tells us, "Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it." Now this statement is couched in some teaching about the return of Jesus. It talks of changing locations, some to judgment and others to life. So, what does it mean for us today? Not sure of everything it might mean, but here is a shot at a few insights:
What in your life has you more transfixed than Jesus and obedience to Him? To answer that question you will need to pay attention more closely to your life (and I to mine). Where is your heart? Where are your eyes? That usually gives a pretty good indication as to the longings and desires of your heart. Are your more consumed with reading the Wall Street journal than the Word of God? Would you rather be on a golf course than in a place of worship? How much of the money God gave you ever makes it's way into the work of the kingdom?
What are you willing to hold tightly and what are you willing to hold loosely? Sometimes all of our stuff has us so locked into life, that we feel we can't let go because it contains the essence of our lives. What if Jesus asked you to lay down your status, or your job, or your possessions so that you could serve Him more effectively - what would you say? What would your hands reveal you are holding loosely and what would they reveal you are clinging desperately to? If anything other than Jesus causes us a white-knuckle grip, we could be in a place where we our loyalties are other than God and His kingdom.
Lot's wife is an interesting reminder to us all. Cling to Jesus, and hold on loosely to the other stuff that fills our lives.
