Don't Look Back


The Bible is full of stories that, at some times, seem too incredible to be true. As Believers, we know that God is capable of anything, so there is nothing that should be off the table as far as what’s possible. Still, when we go through our daily lives and fail to see anything as miraculous as some of what appears in the Bible, it can, inevitably, lead us to question whether certain things are true. Take the story of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:1-28). Given the horrors that we know have been perpetrated in this world, the idea of a city where the people are so immoral and wicked that God would want to destroy the whole city may not be all that unbelievable. Still, you’d probably be hard pressed to come up with a city quite as bad as Sodom or Gomorrah in today’s world.

We’ve all heard news reports that give us a glimpse into how far into wickedness humanity can sink. If not for rule of law and some of the authorities in place, who’s to say just how bad things could get. There are certainly cities in today’s world that it would be wise for outsiders to avoid. Such was the case for Sodom and Gomorrah. Some, in an effort to push their own beliefs, try to use the story to attack homosexuals claiming that the cities were destroyed because of homosexual activity within them. While it is true, that homosexuality was one of the sins practiced by the citizens of the doomed cities, the Bible makes it clear that the city was rife with more than just one set of bad actions.
Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.” - Genesis 18:20-21
Still, as bad as the two cities might have been, it’s still hard for many of us to accept that God destroyed both cities overnight. Whole cities being snuffed out so suddenly? Such a thing must be far too incredible to be true, or is it? Truthfully, cities being destroyed seemingly overnight shouldn’t be unbelievable to anyone. It’s happened more than once throughout history. We have archaeological evidence showing that an ancient Greek city called Helike was almost instantly swallowed by the earth due to an earthquake. Neapolis was a Roman colony in North Africa and was sunk by a tsunami. You might have heard of Pompeii, which was destroyed overnight by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. Did you know that another city, Herculaneum, was also destroyed by the same exact eruption at the same time? Suddenly, what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah doesn’t seem too far fetched.

What may be more important than believing all the details of a Biblical story, is understanding what God is trying to tell us with the story. The most obvious lesson from this story is that sinfulness ultimately leads to death and destruction. Truthfully, that is one of the underlying themes of the Bible itself. We see the grounds for it laid down as early as the story of Adam and Eve where their sin results in them being expelled from the Garden of Eden. That theme continues all the way to the end of the Bible in Revelation where the people that refuse to walk towards Christ and away from their sinful ways are given their final judgement. That second example also mirrors the other major lesson from the story of Sodom and Gomorrah - when we are moving away from sin, we should never look back.
When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!” - Genesis 19:16-17
God allowed Lot and his family to escape destruction. They were instructed not to look back. His wife couldn’t help herself and did not heed the warning. She looked back and lost her life as a result. Right away, one thing to learn is that when God sends instructions to you, it’s best to heed them. Your very life may depend on it. However, the deeper point is that when we are moving away from stages in our lives where we were immersed in sin, we should keep our eyes on the salvation that we are moving towards and not look back at the destruction we are escaping. Walking a righteous path can be difficult. As we attempt it, we will encounter more than enough temptations that threaten to take us off that path. The last thing we want to do is make our walk more difficult. However, when we look back at what we’re leaving, that’s exactly what we’re doing.

We sinned in the past because part of us enjoyed it, and while the Holy Spirit gives us the ability to move beyond that sin, our flesh still attempts to pull us back towards it. The last thing any of us should want to do is add extra temptation to our lives by exposing ourselves to things we’ve been blessed enough to move past. It’s often said that addicts are never really cured, so they should never get too comfortable being in the vicinity of the source of their addictions. In many ways, we are addicted to sin, so if we have managed to move away from it, then we should keep that distance. For some, that’s hard because moving away from sin may mean losing things we hold dear. Following Jesus may cost us favorite pastimes, friends, family, and other worldly sources of joy. Those things and people may be hard to give up, but we have to remember that whatever space is opened in our lives by removing the sinful influences can be filled by adding Godly influences. Ultimately, whatever we lose is nothing compared to what we’ll gain when God rewards us for our choice to follow Jesus. It’s just as Paul said:
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 3:13-14
If you’ve managed to put some of your sinful ways behind you, then make sure you do what is necessary to ensure that’s where they stay, and your trip towards your true goal will be that much easier.


Chris Lawyer
Image Courtesy of https://me.me

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