In
Genesis 13:10
Lot chose to live on the plain of Jordan because it was greener, which meant
that his flocks would be well fed, and that he himself could be more
prosperous.
Pitching
his tent toward Sodom meant that every day Lot saw the wickedness of the people
of Sodom. He became desensitized to it and their wickedness eventually wouldn’t
bother him.
When your friends and neighbors are doing things,
they slowly urge you to join them. This is not a bad thing when they are
righteous. But when the things they are doing are wicked, it can be detrimental
to your spiritual wellbeing. 2 Nephi 28:7-9 puts this
perfectly:
7 Yea, and there shall be many which shall say:
Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us.
8 And there
shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless,
fear God—he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little,
take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy
neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow
we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few
stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God.
9 Yea, and
there shall be many which shall teach after this manner, false and vain
and foolish doctrines, and shall be puffed up in their hearts, and shall seek
deep to hide their counsels from the Lord; and their works shall be in the
dark.
It can start with just a little bit of sin, just a
little bit of lying- it’s expected it’s normal…. Then it will turn into do whatever
you want, there will be no punishment for it in the last days. But it is not true;
you have to do your absolute best. No, we are not perfect while we are here on
this world, but we have to try our best. The Lord Loves us and knows we will
make mistakes, but we cannot plan on making mistakes and paying for it later,
it is so much harder to fix our mistake then, because we planned on it.
Lot
lived in the cities of the plain outside Sodom, but he pitched his tent toward
Sodom (Genesis
13:12). He was exposed to the wickedness of the people and eventually
desensitized enough that he was later able to live in the city of Sodom itself
(Genesis 14:12).
Today people still “pitch their tents toward Sodom.” We put ourselves in
situations where we aren’t quite comfortable with what is going on. Eventually
it becomes comfortable and we will put ourselves in another situation that is
even worse that is just a little uncomfortable again. We continue that cycle until
we are living in “Sodom” a place that is not safe and eventually can destroy
us.
A
specific example of this in my life is from high school. In high school I
became desensitized to all that my “friends” did, the swearing, the pda, the
drugs, the immoral lives, the attitude of “we won’t be caught, we won’t have to
pay later for what we are doing now.” It is heart breaking to me now to look
back and to see everything that my friends did to destroy themselves, and they
didn’t even care. I am glad that I am now out of that situation and able to
choose who I associate with having a much larger sphere of people to choose
from.
Sodom
was full of pride, gluttony, idleness, haughty, rejecting their fellow men, and
sexual immorality, including homosexuality. (Romans
1:24-27, 31) explains how God feels about homosexuality. God abandoned the
people of Sodom to their “vile affections.” The people “[dishonoured] their own
bodies between themselves.” They “changed the truth of God into a lie.” They “served
the creature more than the Creator.” Men and women were without “natural
affection, implacable, unmerciful.” Is it any wonder that Abraham was
challenged to find ten righteous people in the city? Is it any wonder that he
was not successful?
In contrast to Lot and his choices is Abraham
and the choices that he made.
Abraham lived “in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord.” (Genesis 13:18) Wait, what was the first thing that Abraham did when he moved? He built an alter so that he could worship God.
In
Genesis 14:13,
Abraham finds out that Lot was taken captive by foreign kings. He then goes out
with his servants, who were trained to fight (318 of them), and pursued Lot’s
captors into Dan. Once there he rescued Lot and all the other people and goods
that had been captured.
In
Genesis
14:22-23 Abraham shows that he loves and is committed to God. He will not
take anything from the King so that the king will not be able to say that he
has made Abraham rich. He does not want to be tied to a king who will ask for
favors or make unrighteous demands. He wants to be able to serve God all the
days of his life.
Abraham
could have become a very rich man if he had taken the king up on his offer. He
could have become a ruler of the people, but this would have taken him away
from God. If you read Moroni 10:30,
you will see that Abraham was touching “not the evil gift, nor the unclean
thing.” He was avoiding the temptations that would go along with the gifts he
was offered.
How
can I be more like Abraham, who did not even desire a “thread” of what the king
of Sodom had to offer? I can be satisfied, and grateful with the things that I
already have. I can praise the Lord for all the blessings that He has given me,
and He has given me countless blessings. It makes me thing of the hymn Count
Your Blessings; “When you look at others with their lands and gold, think
that Christ has promised you his wealth untold.”
How
can you be more like Abraham, who did not even desire a thread of what the king of Sodom had to offer? Do not give up your
wealth in heaven because you want something now that is worthless in the
eternal perspective.
