Genesis 19:17 – “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the valley; escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away.”

I’m wondering if anyone else has ever heard a warning from God like this one in his or her personal life. Whether you have or not, I would dare you to consider what your response to this warning would be. Would you take heed, run for cover and never look back, or would you consider all the things you would be leaving behind in your haste? Like your family, your friends, your possessions, the things that bring you comfort…As much as I would love to say that I would choose option A, I have to be honest that I would most likely fall into the category of hesitant. However, as I read this passage even further, I realized just how serious this choice really is in my everyday life.

“Sin makes you stay longer than you want to stay and pay more than you want to pay.” I heard this quote on the radio years ago and it stuck with me ever since, because it is so true. Consider me a poster child for what happens when you ignore God’s warning to abandon your sinful nature and accept the new life He has provided through Christ. I know we like to place values on sin, but whether you are a liar, negative thinker, adulterer, gossiper, fornicator, thief or cheater—the fact remains that the wage for your sin is death. It amazes me how much we put at risk for a few moments of gratification or superficial gain. Regardless of how low we have stooped and how long we’ve been there, God is faithful enough to reach down and pull us out of it and place us on the right path. When God speaks to our sinful nature and calls us out of it, it is our responsibility to take heed immediately. I am reminded of the story of Lot in Genesis 19 when God was enraged by the sin that had overtaken Sodom and Gomorrah. He had set out to completely destroy everything and everyone in the city, except for Lot, a relative of His faithful servant, Abraham. When the angels came to rescue Lot and his family from impending destruction, Lot was hesitant. Finally, the angels grabbed his arms and forcefully removed him from harm’s way. As he and his family were being whisked away, the angels warned them to keep moving and not to look back. But Lot’s wife, still longing for the comfortable life she was leaving behind, looked back and was instantly killed.

Let this story remind us all of how important it is to abandon our sinful nature. Life in Sodom and Gomorrah was so wicked that God made a promise to Abraham not to destroy the land if He could find at least 10 righteous people (Read Genesis 18). The result of His search was the destruction of the entire city. So if the city and lifestyle were so wicked, why was it so hard for Lot and his family to leave? The reasons boiled down to status, comfort and complete desensitization to God’s law. Although Lot was justified, he was not sanctified and he made his home in a wicked place. He chose to live literally in sin because it was comfortable. How many times do we disobey God for the sake of comfort? How many times have we opted to stay where we are and die spiritually because at least we know what to expect? I’ll raise my hand and say that was me for a very, very long time. I had fallen in love with a false sense of comfort and life seemed unbearable without it. This is one of the greatest tricks of the enemy because he hides the real consequences of our disobedience behind a more appealing façade. As I am growing in Christ and turning away from my sinful nature, I am learning that looking back at my old ways is deadly. Looking back [Hebrew word for “look back” means to regard, to consider or to pay attention to] kills many things in our lives.

• Our relationship with God. When we repeatedly choose sin over God, our relationship with Him diminishes. It gets harder to pray because all we can hear are satan’s accusations against us and we begin to shy away from God’s love out of guilt.
• Our deliverance. God wants us to live in freedom from our sins. (Read Galatians 5:1 (AMP))
• Our hope and our faith. When we choose a lifestyle of sin, it becomes harder to believe in the promises of God because of the guilt we feel. Satan uses this guilt to lie to us by saying that our deeds are the only thing that gives us access to God’s love. (Read the truth in Romans 8:38)
• Our progress. It’s pretty impossible to grow and become more like Christ when we insist on doing things that are not like Him.
• Our time. It’s time for us to start living as if we are temporary residents on this earth. When we choose to live in sin, it’s almost like saying we have nothing but time to waste when the truth is that we have no clue of the day, nor the hour when Christ will return. We can’t afford to waste time doing things that will yield us nothing in the long run.
• Our influence on others. Lot was a justified man. He believed in God, but he didn’t sanctify (separate) himself from sinful things. He tolerated everything God was against and lost his influence as a man of God. Some people call this being a carnal Christian. When it was time to save his neighbors from God’s wrath, people laughed at him because they couldn’t see God in him.

In Luke 9:62, Jesus warns His disciples, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.” If we want to be of use to the Lord, then we have to take heed to the warnings and turn away from sin for good. It may look beneficial, but I think it’s clear by now that sin is deadly. This story is a resounding word of caution to anyone who thinks God isn’t watching or has somehow consented to the sinful lifestyle they have chosen. Many times we confuse God’s incredible patience with consent. We couldn’t be more inaccurate. And it is imperative to understand that when we are convicted for our choices, we must repent completely and never look back, because the pathway of sin leads to death every time.

Further Reading:

Ephesians 4:22-24 (NLT)
Galatians 5:17, 19-21
Galatians 5:13-14
Romans 8:5-6
Galatians 5:1 (AMP)
Luke 17:31-33 (NKJV)